


In Defense of Draco Malfoy

by habit_of_tpwk



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Blaise Zabini - Freeform, Cassiopeia Grey - Freeform, Deathly Hallows, Draco Malfoy - Freeform, F/M, Harry Potter - Freeform, Hogwarts, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - Freeform, Love Story, Order of the Phoenix - Freeform, Original Character - Freeform, Pansy Parkinson - Freeform, goblet of fire - Freeform, hermione granger - Freeform, relationship, ron weasley - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:35:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 33,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27687704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/habit_of_tpwk/pseuds/habit_of_tpwk
Summary: The Grey family and the Malfoy family are the most well-known followers of the Dark Lord. Cassiopeia Grey’s first introduction to the Malfoy’s youngest, Draco, was nothing short of horrible. She vows to stay away from the boy, but what happens when the two find out they have more in common than they realized?This story follows Cassiopeia and Draco’s journey together from fourth year all the way to the Battle of Hogwarts. Please join them in their captivating and ambivalent adventure full of love and hate.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

My parents and I stand on Platform 9 3/4, watching other kids eagerly jump onto Hogwarts Express. I could feel myself getting chills, it's something that always happened when I was nervous. My mother noticed and she grabbed my hands. 

"You're going to do great here, I promise," she said, giving me a reassuring smile. 

I was never someone who openly expressed themselves as anything less than perfect, so I took a deep breath in and simply responded, "I know".

My father walked over, done getting my luggage put on the train, and gave me a hug. That wasn't something that happened often. 

My eyes shifted around. Most of the kids had already boarded, so I cut the hug short and smiled at both my parents. My mother nodded, meaning you can go now. 

I stepped onto the train. Everyone seemed to know who their friends were, so I went and found a place to sit by myself. I'd never known what it was like to not have any friends. At my old school, I knew pretty much everyone. Everyone definitely knew me. I didn't want to admit it, but I already wanted to go home. I could feel tears start to well up in my eyes, but I quickly blinked them away and snapped out of it.

I was looking out the window when I heard a tapping on the door. I looked over to see a girl with brown, curly hair asking to come in. I nodded my head in approval. 

"Hi, sorry if I'm bothering you. I was just wondering if I could sit in here and read my book. I was sitting with my friends Harry and Ron, but they were talking about gross boy stuff," she said, scrunching her nose up in disgust. "Anyways, I promise I'll be super quiet, if I could just sit in here until we get to the school."

"Sure, that's fine."

The girl took a seat in front of me and opened her book. Her eyes shifted between me and the book until she finally looked up. 

"I don't think I recognize you and you look too old to be a first year," she blurted out, obviously not caring about her promise she just made me. 

"I'm a fourth year. This is my first time going to Hogwarts," I said reluctantly. 

"Oh! Well I'm Hermione Granger, nice to meet you." She extended her hand outward for me to shake. I looked at her hand for a few seconds before shaking it. 

"Cassiopeia Grey." 

"I'm a fourth year too. If you don't know anyone yet, you can stick with me. I can show you around the school," Hermione smiled. 

I forced a smile back and turned back towards the window. This girl obviously wasn't a Slytherin, so I wasn't sure how close I wanted to get to her. My parents sent me to this school with a mission: get to know the Slytherins, so we can climb the social ladder. Pretty fucked up, huh?

_

Once the train stopped, Hermione and I got off and went to get our luggage. We saw two boys roughhousing and Hermione scoffed. 

She walked over to them and flicked each of their foreheads, making them lose focus on each other. Now they were holding on to their foreheads, asking "why did you do that". Maybe she wasn't a Slytherin, but she knew how to take control. 

She waved her hand, signaling me to go over. 

"Cassiopeia, this is Ron," she said pointing to the ginger boy, "and this is Harry." I looked closely at Harry. The glasses, the hair, the scar above his right eyebrow...

"Harry Potter?" I asked, shaking his hand. He nodded, obviously he got that all the time. Everyone knew who he was. My parents would always talk with other pureblood families about his story. The boy who lived this and the boy who lived that. It got a bit annoying when all your parents would talk about was some other kid, never you. 

I decided to stay with the three of them until we got to the school. We boarded a carriage and set off. The whole time Hermione, Harry, and Ron were talking to each other but I didn't really mind. I just looked around at the scenery. 

"Cassiopeia," Hermione said, trying to get my attention. 

My head shot towards her. "Uh, you can just call me Cass," I said. I always had to remind people they didn't have to say my whole name. It's long and irritating, I know. 

"Okay, Cass, what house are you hoping to get sorted into? We're all in Gryffindor." 

Damn. If I say Slytherin, they'd all probably jump out of the carriage just to get away from me. "I'm not sure, whatever I get will be fine by me."

"Yeah just don't hope for Slytherin," Ron said. "There's not a witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin." Hermione and Harry chuckled. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. 

When my parents attended Hogwarts they were both Slytherins. Of course coming from one of the most famous pureblood families, I can only try to keep the tradition going. If not, who knows what would happen. It's not like my parents had a good reputation or anything.

The carriage stopped and I looked up at the Hogwarts castle. It was gigantic, so beautiful. Professors came and escorted us to the Great Hall, giving us a small tour on the way. Everything was so breathtaking; the architecture, the greenery, the library- Merlin, the library. I've always been a sucker for a good book. As much as I'm a 'glass half empty' kind of girl, I had to admit I was pretty stoked to be here. 

"Guys come look!" I heard someone say. 

Hermione, Ron, and Harry all looked at each other before following the kid. I followed too, curious as to what everyone was looking at. It looked like almost the whole school was gathered in one spot, looking out at the sky and the water surrounding the castle. A carriage being led by pegasus landed on the grounds on the castle and a huge ship emerged from the water. 

"What's all this?" I asked Hermione. 

"The competing schools for the Tri-Wizard Tournament!" 

"What's the-" I began to ask before being interrupted by a professor telling us to make our way to the Great Hall. I didn't know where that was, so I followed Hermione one again. 

The Great Hall was insane. The ceiling looked as if it had opened up for us to see the night sky. "It's not real, it's just bewitched," Hermione said, realizing how mesmerized I was. I looked ahead, pretending I wasn't just staring at the ceiling for a good twenty seconds. 

"Since you haven't been sorted yet, you can just come sit with us at the Gryffindor table." We all took a seat as I was introduced to a boy named Neville, a set of twins named Fred and George who were Ron's brothers, and Ron's sister, Ginny. I started to wonder if everyone here was related to Ron. 

We watched as first years lined up in front of the sorting hat, each getting placed into their house. Something that would determine the course of the rest of their lives. 

The woman holding the sorting hat, Professor McGonagall read off the name of the last first year. The hat took time to think, mumbling to itself, before announcing "Hufflepuff!" The girl smiled and ran off to the Hufflepuff table, being embraced by her new friends.

"And our last student of this evening is fourth year, Cassiopeia Grey," Professor McGonagall said, looking around for me. Suddenly it was quiet.

I was starting to get the chills. I closed my fists and stood up. Hermione was giving me a thumbs-up before I started for the chair beside McGonagall. I sat down and took a deep breath in. I could feel the hat being placed on my head. 

"Hm..." it said. "Grey, eh? I remember sorting your parents their first year. I'm sensing ambition... pride... you will get your way no matter what it takes. However, I'm a bit conflicted. What is the core of your wand?" 

"Dragon heartstring," I answered. 

"Ah, yes! That makes sense! Any special requests before I give my final word?" 

"You should know green is my color. It matches my eyes," I whispered, making the hat laugh. 

"Well that's told me all I need to know... Slytherin!"

I couldn't keep myself from grinning as I stood up from the chair. I could hear claps and whoops from the other Slytherins. My nerves were gone, I held my chin up as I walked to the Slytherin table. I sat down and got nods of approval from the rest of the kids there. I looked over to the Gryffindor table to see Hermione, Ron, and Harry staring at me. I quickly looked away. Why did I feel bad? Like I had lied to them? Anyway, I didn't. I'm where I'm supposed to be now. 

Professor Dumbledore stood up at the front of the Great Hall and overlooked everyone. "Now that we're all settled and sorted," he began, "I'd like to make an announcement. This castle will not only be your home this year, but home to some very special guests as well." 

An old, stringy-haired man burst through the doors and hurried over to Dumbledore. He whispered something to him, they both exchanged more whispers, and the weird old man left. 

Dumbledore started again: "So, Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event- the Tri-Wizard Tournament!" 

Everyone mumbled among themselves as Dumbledore went on to explain what the tournament was. I had heard of it before, but had no idea Hogwarts would be hosting it this year. 

"Please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic!" 

The what? I couldn't believe it. I had just left that school, wanting a new life and now I'm faced with what I wanted to leave behind. I sunk down in my seat hoping no one would see me. 

The girls walked down the Great Hall in their baby blue uniforms, the uniforms I had been wearing for years. Everyone was captivated by their gracefulness and beauty. That was why I didn't belong there. I mean, of course I'm beautiful, everybody knew that. But I wasn't graceful and lady-like like the other girls. I was just hoping I wouldn't see Fleur. She would be pissed at me if she knew I was here. 

The girls finished their little show or whatever as Dumbledore led the headmistress to her seat. 

"Now our friends from the North, please greet the proud sons of Durmstrang!" Dumbledore said. 

A large group of guys burst through the doors, banging their sticks on the floor and exclaiming strongly in unison. They were very athletic and skilled. They even had firey theatrics. Their headmaster was large and intimidating. 

After the other schools had gotten seated, feast began and I started talking to this blonde girl next to me. I didn't bother to remember her name. 

"Wait, your last name is Grey? Are your parents Thomas and Aspen Grey?" The girl asked excitedly. 

Here we go... I thought. Whenever anyone heard my name, they had no clue who I was, but when they hear my parents names, they want to be my best friend. It really messes with your self-image from a young age. I've never known if my friends liked me for being me, or for being the daughter of one of the richest pureblood families there was.

_

After dinner, everyone was escorted to their dorms. I was directed to my dorm by a Slytherin prefect. I walked in to see a girl standing in the middle of the floor with her arms crossed. She had dark brown hair and a scrunched up face. 

"You're my roommate, then?" She asked, sticking her nose up.

"Guess so," I said, standing in the doorway. I already knew what this girl was playing at. She was probably super popular or whatever, and she didn't want some new girl to ruin that for her. 

"The name's Pansy. Pansy Parkinson." She emphasized her last name, expecting me to be wowed at the fact she was a Parkinson, but I really wasn't. The Parkinson family is also one of the famous 28 pureblood families. I don't see how it's boastable to be from a pureblood family; we all probably come from incestual bloodlines, it's disgusting really. 

"Okay... My name's Cass-"

"I already know who you are. You're Cassiopeia Grey. Your family is probably more well-known than mine. I'd bet you're up there with the Malfoys aren't ya?"

"Never met 'em." I'd heard of the Malfoys, apparently the youngest son is in my year. My parents thought of the Malfoys as competition. Competition in what? Fame, fortune, and connections to the Dark Lord. Both my parents were death eaters, so they took their business very seriously. I got used to growing up with other death eaters in and out of my house. I would stay in my bedroom and play games with the house elves. 

"Hm. Anyway, I'm going to call you Cass for short. Cassiopeia is just way too long."

Usually I have to tell people to call me Cass. She's just taken it upon herself to do so. I kind of respected it.

But I couldn't let her know that. 

"Alright. And your name was, what, again?" I asked, putting a confused look on my face. Of course I remembered her name, I just wanted to make it seem like it didn't. And it worked. 

Her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes shifted around the room a bit. "Pansy." 

"Look, Pansy. I can already tell we're too much like each other. We can stop playing this little game of 'I'm better than you' and actually be friends. I think it would benefit us both." I reached my hand out for her to shake. She looked at it for a while before grinning and placing her hand in mine. 

"You're pretty sly, Grey," she said, letting go of my hand. 

I shrugged. "I know."

We both laughed and Pansy went to sit on her bed while I started unpacking my things.

"So every year we have a party in the common room before classes officially start. You up for it?" Pansy asked. 

"I don't know... I'm kind of tired from all the traveling today." 

"Come on don't be a pussy, I could introduce you to everyone. Plus it's the perfect time to get drunk and let loose before we have to stress over class work." 

"You had me at 'get drunk'."

Pansy chuckled. "Good. We have about an hour to get ready."


	2. Chapter 2

I managed to dig to the bottom of my trunk and find a small black dress I packed. I paired it with a pair of black heels. 

I left the bathroom to find my perfume when I heard Pansy come in. 

"Shit! You look good!" she said, looking at me. 

I laughed. "So do you!" 

She had on a dark green dress (obviously) with a pair of heeled boots. 

I rummaged through my jewelry and found the ring my mother gave to me before I left. A silver snake ring wrapped around my left ring finger. I admired the way it looked on my hand before being interrupted.

"You ready to go?" Pansy asked from the doorway. 

I could already hear music and people talking in the common room. 

"Yeah," I said. 

We walked out of the girls dorms into the huge room lit up by green lights and candles. Earlier the ambience felt a bit cold and eerie, now it felt warm and inviting with other students having a good time.

Pansy took me by the hand and led me out into the crowd. She introduced me to a couple people before we went to the drink table. 

I was distracted looking around and didn't notice Pansy making me a drink. "Here," she said, thrusting a plastic cup in my face. 

"What is it?" I asked. 

She shrugged. "I don't know. There's vodka and something in there." 

I took the drink, eager to get shitfaced. "Good enough for me." 

Pansy took a sip of her own drink and someone across the room caught her attention. "Ooh! There he is!"

She motioned for me to follow her as she walked over to a tall boy with dark skin. He looked kind of scary until he saw Pansy. When he smiled, he looked like a puppy or something. 

"Pansy!" he exclaimed, bringing the dark-haired girl into an embrace. 

"Finally I found you!" Pansy said, smiling. But it was like a genuine smile. I wasn't sure this girl was capable of a smile that wide. 

"Blaise this is Cass, Cass this is Blaise." 

"Nice to meet you," I said, shaking Blaise's hand.

"Are you kidding? It's an honor to be meeting you!" 

I guess that blonde girl I met at dinner didn't keep her mouth shut. 

"News spreads fast here, huh?" I asked, taking a sip of my drink. Merlin's beard! Pansy didn't go light on the vodka, did she? 

Blaise chuckled. "Definitely. So what's your schedule like, Cass?" 

"Um, I can't really remember. I know I have potions first." 

"Me too! Snape is great, he gives us house points for literally just breathing." 

Me and Pansy laughed. Pansy a little over-exaggeratedly. She looked over at me and I got the hint. 

"I'm gonna go get a refill," I said, pointing back to the drink table. 

I was already feeling the affects of the strong drink Pansy made me, so while filling up my cup I spilled a little on my dress. 

"Ugh, great." 

I set down the bottle of whatever I was pouring into my cup, and reached for a napkin. I felt a pair of cold hands on my waist and turned around. The boy's face was a little blurred since I wasn't completely aware, but I could make out his piercing blue eyes and snow-white hair. 

"Let me help you," he said, taking the napkin from my hand. He wiped off the alcohol from my dress and stared me in the eyes. 

"Thanks.." I said, unable to look away. 

He leaned down to my right ear and placed his hand on my hip. "Don't mention it," he whispered. He grinned and stalked away. 

I quickly turned away and downed my cup of whatever. I winced as I felt the drink burn on its way down my throat. I figured this was the perfect time to go to the bathroom. 

After asking a couple different people, I finally found the bathroom. Empty. Good. I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked good, of course, but my face was burning red. Probably from that stupid guy at the drink table. 

My vision was getting blurrier as my second drink was setting in. I leaned on the sink, staring at myself in the mirror. I saw a figure in the corner of my eye. Seriously? I found it so amusing, I had to laugh. 

"You again?" I asked. 

"Guess I just couldn't stay away," the boy said, walking towards me. 

"Can't say I blame you." I was grinning now, popping my hip out. I wasn't ever one to do anything with a stranger, but when you're under the influence, nothing makes sense anymore. 

The boy laughed and took his hands out of his pockets. He was now right in front of me. His right hand held one side of my face as his thumb traced my lips. 

"You're beautiful," he said. 

"I know." 

The pale stranger stifled a chuckle. I could feel my heartbeat getting faster and my breaths getting more intense. Now I needed him. I didn't care who he was. I didn't care if I never spoke to him again. I just needed some part of this boy that would link us together forever- whether it be a faded memory of us sloppily making out in the bathroom or a beautiful future with him. I needed this boy. 

And with that, his lips crashed against mine. His hands traveled down my body as mine tugged at his soft, white hair. It happened so quick, the next thing I knew I was pinned up against the wall with the pretty boy kissing my neck. I tried to keep my moans of pleasure to myself when he found my sweet spot. My hand traveled up his shirt, pretty much on its own. I could feel the contour of his defined abs. 

The boy's mouth found its way back to mine and we stayed like that for a while, gasping for breath when we needed to. Sometimes I would be able to feel his smile through the kiss. 

I opened my eyes to a bright light shining into the bathroom. "Hello?" A voice said. 

I pushed the boy off of me and guided him into a stall and shut the door. I could hear someone enter the bathroom, stand there, and leave. I was suddenly sober and realized what I was doing. The boy's body was pushed up against mine in the little stall. I looked up and him and just said, "I have to go". 

The boy grabbed my wrist and I looked back at him. He stared at me for a moment with his beautiful blue eyes. However, now that I was aware, they really weren't all that beautiful. They were terrifying. I could tell those eyes had seen so much and I wasn't sure I would ever want to know what it was that they saw. I might not remember him in the morning, but I would remember those eyes for the rest of my life. 

_

I got back to the common room and looked around for Pansy. I found her talking to Blaise, still. I walked over, pretending nothing had happened. 

"Oh hey, Cass. Where've you been, I've been looking all-" She stopped as her eyes traveling down to my neck. 

She turned to Blaise and smiled. "I think Cass is really tired from her travels today, so we're gonna head up to bed. See you tomorrow!" 

Blaise waved goodbye as Pansy practically dragged me back to our dorm. She slammed the door behind her and looked at me, mouth gaping. 

"Who did that?" She asked. 

"Did what?" 

Pansy led me to the mirror where I saw what exactly she was talking about. Lovebites all down my neck. It looked quite trashy, if I'm being honest.

"I-I don't know." It probably sounded like I was bullshitting, but I truly didn't know who did it. 

"Well what did he look like?" Pansy asked, grinning. 

"I don't really remember." I went over to my clothes and changed into my pajamas. 

"What do you mean you don't remember? You were just with him!" 

"Look I was out of it. I just wanna go to sleep, I'm really tired," I said climbing into bed. 

"Yeah, I bet you are," Pansy said, laughing. 

I couldn't keep myself from smiling. "Goodnight," I said, turning off my bedside lamp. 

"Goodnight, you animal."

_

I only felt like I got to sleep for an hour, maybe, before Pansy woke me up. But, nope, I probably got a good six hours in. I just felt drained from the night before. 

My robes got delivered that morning, so needless to say I was pretty excited. I looked myself up and down in the mirror and felt like a true Slytherin. I did, however, have to ask Pansy to help me with my tie since I had never put one on before. 

While I did my makeup, I took that time to cover up the awful marks on my neck. I think I didn't pretty good by the end of it, barely even noticeable. 

Pansy and I grabbed our book bags and made our way to the Great Hall for breakfast. This school was huge, I wasn't sure I would be able to find my way around without help. 

The Great Hall was a bit intimidating with everyone there, but Pansy found Blaise pretty quickly and we sat down with him. 

"Goodmorning, ladies! You ready for your first day, Cass?" he asked. 

"I think so," I answered, plopping some eggs and toast onto my plate. 

"Well since you two have your first class together, just stick with Blaise and it won't be too terrible," Pansy said. 

"Yup, I've got your back," Blaise said, flashing his puppy-like smile. 

"Thanks." 

The rest of breakfast went well. The food was amazing and Pansy and Blaise walked me through each of my classes. I only had two classes with either of them- Potions with Blaise and Defense Against the Dark Arts with Pansy. 

The first bell finally rang and Blaise and I said bye to Pansy before making our way to Potions. Blaise gave me the run-down on Professor Snape and joked about how serious he was. 

We got to the classroom and found a table to sit at. I watched as students slowly poured into the room and found their friends. Fellow Slytherins, Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws found their seats. I reached into my bag for my Potions book when I heard Blaise say something. 

"Ooh, Malfoy! Over here!" 

I looked up to see a boy walking over to our table. The white hair, the grin, the blue eyes... Oh no...

The two greeted each other as I felt my hands begin to shake. Not now, please... Blaise turned to me. "Have you met Malfoy yet?"

I shook my head no. 

"Well, Cass, this Malfoy."

"Draco Malfoy," the boy said, staring into my eyes once again. 

"Nice to meet you Draco Malfoy. I'm-" 

"Oh, I'm familiar," he interrupted. 

"Are you, now?" I said, worried what he might say next. 

"Of course. You're Cassiopeia Grey. Your parents are practically famous- maybe even as famous as mine." 

Malfoy! Damn it! I knew the name sounded familiar. Did I really make out with THE Draco Malfoy in a bathroom?

"Anyways, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said, keeping his eyes on me. 

I already knew I didn't like him. Not like I didn't have feelings for him- I didn't! I just knew I would not want anything to do with him from that point on. I know it's a complete 180 from how I was feeling last night, but I'm aware now. And I'm aware that Draco Malfoy was brought into my life as a curse.


	3. Chapter 3

Potions went well besides the fact that Draco wouldn't stop glaring at me. Snape is pretty chill. He really does favor Slytherins, which is nice considering everyone else hates us. I also got to talk to Blaise some more and learned how funny he is. I even caught Draco laughing a few times. That's another thing: Draco barely laughs or smiles, like genuinely. The only time he does is when it's at someone else's expense.

Blaise had to leave me in the hallway since his next class was pretty much on the whole other side of the school. I looked down at my printed schedule trying to find the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. I accidentally bumped into someone, making me instantly look up.

"Oh, sorry-"

"Cass?"

"Hermione." I forced a smile, feeling pretty awkward after completely ditching her the night before. 

"Look I'm sorry about yesterday, I..."

"Did you know? I mean did you have a feeling you were going to be sorted into Slytherin?"

I nodded. "In fact, I was hoping for it."

Hermione smiled. "Then there's nothing to apologize for. I wanted to be your friend before you were sorted and I still do after."

I couldn't help but laugh. Is this girl crazy? She's bestfriends with Harry Potter and still doesn't care I'm a Slytherin? 

"Do you need help finding your next class?" she asked, looking at my schedule. "Oh, I have that too! Follow me!" 

Next thing I knew I was being led across campus by Hermione Granger, talking about school and my parents and her parents. Apparently her parents are both muggles. If the other Slytherins found out I was walking the halls with a mudblood...

Eventually we got to the class taught by Professor Moody. He was quite the character. A bit strange if you ask me, but oh well. I thanked Hermione for helping me out and found a seat next to Pansy. 

"You friends with Granger or something?" she asked with that judgmental look on her face. 

"She's just been really nice to me, that's all."

My eyes panned around the room, looking to see who else was in this class. My gaze stopped on a boy with familiar white hair and familiar blue eyes. Why is he everywhere? I guess I was staring cause Pansy tapped me on the arm and signaled over to him. 

"Met Malfoy yet?" 

"Yeah. He sits with me and Blaise in Potions."

"He's such an ass, but I consider him a good friend of mine."

"If he's an ass, why do you hang out with him?" 

"My parents. They think maybe by hanging out with him, he'll put in a good word to his parents."

"My parents are like that too. It's pretty much the whole reason I transferred here." 

Pansy raised her eyebrows and looked at me. "Well, then you'll be spending plenty of time with him this year."

Great.

_

The rest of the day wasn't bad. I had a couple more classes with Hermione, but I was pretty much alone for the others. I met up with Pansy and Blaise for lunch and we sat in the courtyard. Thankfully I just had one more class left: Transfiguration. 

I didn't have anyone around to tell me where it was, so I ended up being a little late. I rushed into the silent classroom, all eyes on me. McGonagall turned to me. 

"Hello there. Tell me why a fourth year would be late to class on the first day?" 

"Sorry, um, I just transferred here and I got a little lost. I was sorted last night, remember?" 

She looked at me, her expression now weird. It was as though she felt uncomfortable in my presence. 

"Ah, yes. Ms. Grey... It appears the only seat available is next to Mr. Malfoy. You seem to have the same robes, so lucky for you."

My shoulders dropped as I looked at the open seat next to Malfoy. I stalked over to him and dropped my bag on the floor next to me. I slouched in my chair as McGonagall began the first lesson. I could feel his eyes staring at me, it felt like they were burning a hole in my skin. 

I finally mustered up the courage to stare back. What a bad idea. 

I'd never been one to stand down to somebody, especially not some stupid boy. But his eyes were terrifying. Terrifying and beautiful and hid secrets I would kill myself over if I knew. 

Then he grinned. 

And I wanted to slap him. I wanted to slap him so hard. How dare he act as though he was superior to me. And for what? We were both in that bathroom that night. We both should be disgusted with ourselves. 

From that point on, I was going to pretend like that night didn't even happen. He thought differently.

_

The final bell rang, wrapping up my first day at Hogwarts. I closed my book and put it in my bag, ready to go to my dorm and sleep for eternity. I flung my bag over my shoulder and headed out the door of the Transfiguration classroom when a cold hand grabbed my wrist. I whipped my head around to see Malfoy, of course.

I snatched my hand away and scrunched up my nose. "Don't touch me."

Draco eyed me up and down. "You weren't saying that last night."

I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes. I was just overcompensating for the fact that my hands were starting to shake and my ears were turning red. 

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah right. We both remember what happened. How could you possibly forget me?"

"Well you're easily forgettable, Malcoy."

"Malfoy..."

"Oops, guess I forgot."

And with that, I flashed a petty smile and started walking to my dorm. 

Once I got there, Pansy was already laying on her bed sleeping. I guess I shut the door too loudly because she shot up from her pillow and glared at me. 

"Sorry," I said. "Were you sleeping?"

"Yes. I skipped my last class." 

Now she was awake, walking over to her desk and fixing her makeup. I dropped my stuff on the floor and plopped down onto my bed. 

"So how was your first day?" Pansy asked. 

"Wasn't bad. My classes are okay." 

"Make some friends?"

"Not really. I kind of only know you, Blaise, and Hermione right now."

"What about Malfoy? Like I said, his family's got good connections."

"Ugh, I don't even want to talk about him. He's such a dick."

"So you got to know him some more, huh?" 

"Unfortunately! I was late to Transfiguration and the only seat left was next to him. I can only imagine why," I said sarcastically. Me and Pansy laughed. 

"So Blaise has quidditch practice in a bit, do you wanna go?" Pansy asked, looking at her hands.

I grinned. "Why do you wanna watch him practice?"

"Just to show him some support."

"Riiight."

Pansy's face got red and she looked at me angrily, trying not to smile. "Shut up!" she said, throwing her lip gloss at me. 

I laughed and picked up my bag. "I wish I could go, but I have a bunch of work to do."

"Aw, come on!"

"I'm sorry! Just give Blaise good luck for me."

Pansy sighed and left for the quidditch pitch. "Fine. Have fun with your stupid homework." 

I decided to work in the common room so I didn't have to stay cooped up in my dorm. I also just like the aesthetic of the Slytherin common room. 

I found a comfy spot on one of the couches and began my first of many pages of homework. Who assigns this much on the first day?

_

My eyes groggily opened as I was woken up by giggling in the common room. Shit. I didn't even realize I fell asleep. I looked around for the source of the commotion. 

A familiar white-haired boy and a girl with shiny black hair I had never seen before walked into the common room and to the dorms, arms linked together. On their way to the dorms, those terrifying blue eyes didn't leave mine. 

I scoffed and packed up my work. Guess I'd be staying up late finishing it. I didn't really care, I was just focused on the rumbling in my stomach. I decided to go to the Great Hall for dinner. 

I sat down at the Slytherin table by myself and filled up my plate. A girl in a blue Beauxbatons uniform took a seat in front of me. 

"This is the Slytherin table..." I said without looking up. 

"I know. Apparently my little sister is a Slytherin."

I smiled at the soft voice of the girl in front of me.

"Fleur! You're here?" 

"Of course! How could I miss a chance at the Tri-Wizard Tournament? And also a chance at seeing you." 

My smile faded as her tone of voice changed. 

"I didn't know you transferred schools. You didn't tell me." 

"Don't worry, I didn't tell anyone."

"Why not? Everyone thought you just dropped dead or something."

"Everyone probably wished I dropped dead."

Fleur looked down and smiled. 

"You know, when I saw you up there last night, I knew what was going to happen. I knew how you were going to be sorted. And not just because your parents were Slytherins. You are amazing Cass- and you know it too." 

I laughed at how right she was. 

"So it doesn't matter what everyone else thinks about you leaving. This is where you belong, this is the place you get to call home. And I am so proud of you for that."

"I think I finally I understand why my parents didn't let me go to Hogwarts from the beginning. I mean I remember them hiding my letter from me when I was eleven, but I didn't know why. Now I realize they didn't want me to suffer because of them. But I'm ready now. I'm ready to make a name for myself."

Fleur held my hands in hers. I'll admit it felt good. It had been forever since she comforted me. Usually I refused people trying to comfort me because it made me feel too inferior or vulnerable. But she always did it well; she knew saying stuff like "we've all been there" or "it's okay to feel sad" didn't get through to me. She could just tell when I didn't feel like myself. And tonight she could tell I wanted to go home. She could tell I was having my moments. And when I felt that pit in my stomach making me want to throw up all my insides, she felt it too. 

But seeing her warm smile and hearing her soft voice and feeling her hands grip mine made all the bad thoughts go away.


	4. Chapter 4

After dinner I made my way to my dorm. While passing through the common room I noticed my bag still on the floor by the couch. I sighed, remembering all the homework I still had to do and slung my bag over my shoulder. My feet drug their way to the girls dorms but stopped abruptly as a girl with long black hair coming from the boy's dorms bumped into me. She had a huge grin plastered across her face. 

Wait. 

She was the girl going to Malfoy's dorm earlier. Oh, I knew what that grin was from. She turned to me and her jaw dropped. 

"Oh- I'm so sorry Cassiopeia. I didn't see you-"

"I don't want to hear it. Just watch where you're going next time." 

She nodded and ran off to her dorm room. I guess having a reputation had its perks. 

"Shit, Grey. Way to scare off my plaything," said a voice behind me. 

I hated that voice. It was only the first day and I already knew it too well. I turned around reluctantly and found Malfoy leaning against the wall of the common room, grinning at me. 

"Did you just call her your 'plaything'? That is a person with real emotions that you just used to get a hard-on." 

"Yeah, so what? I did the same with you."

"Stop bringing that up! I don't want to think about it and if I were you I wouldn't either."

"It's all I want to think about, Grey. When I see you all I can feel is you gripping my hair and me leaving lovebites on your neck." 

At this point I couldn't help but walk over to him and get in his face so maybe, just maybe my message would get to him. 

"I don't know you, Malfoy, and you don't know me! I didn't transfer here to make out with strangers in bathrooms, and I certainly don't need to be reminded of my mistakes everyday. So when it comes to you and me, we never met before today. And anytime I'm around you, it's because I have to be. So keep using your little playthings, just know I refuse to be one of them." 

I stomped away to my dorm room leaving Malfoy leaned up against the wall, eyes on the floor. I shut the door to my dorm, getting Pansy's attention. 

"Was that you yelling in the common room?" she asked. 

"Y-you could hear that?" 

"Yeah, who pissed you off?" 

I scoffed and laid down on my bed. "Doesn't matter. They're just a shitty person with a shitty life." 

Pansy grinned and took a seat on the edge of my bed. "Need something to calm you down?" 

I looked at her suspiciously. "...Like what?"

She held up her hand, in between two fingers a nicely rolled joint. I smiled, not having smoked in a long time ever since my parents caught me. 

"Where did you get that?" 

"I have a few people here and there."

"Really, like who?" 

"Well you know those hot Weasley twins?" 

"No way! Ron Weasley's brothers?" 

"Yep. Ron is such a stoner too!" 

Pansy and I laughed. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Sure I had only had brief encounters with them, but I never would have imagined they smoked and sold. Pansy lit up the end of the joint and took a drag, handing it over to me as she breathed out the smoke. 

I inhaled the familiar substance, feeling it travel to my lungs. I coughed a bit, but immediately felt better than I did when I walked in. It was probably the calmest I had felt since I got to Hogwarts.

Pansy and I spent the rest of the night smoking and talking about random stuff. I didn't even care about my homework anymore, I could just do it later. I knew I would probably regret that, but whatever. 

I could really only get a couple hours of sleep that night since I spent most of it staring up at the ceiling or asking Pansy if she was awake when she clearly wasn't. I woke to Pansy nudging me, telling me it was time to get ready. 

I drug myself out of bed and put my uniform on. I was still feeling the affects of the long night we had, but I did my makeup making sure to cover up my terrible under eyes. I looked at my neck and saw faded marks still there, so I covered those up too. I fucking hate him. 

Pansy walked over to me, brushing her teeth and took a look at me and giggled. 

"Dude, you still look so high. When was the last time you smoked?" 

"A long time ago. My parents found out and they said if I ever did it again, they'd make sure I didn't inherit anything from them when they died," I answered nonchalantly.

Pansy's eyes widened. "Shit."

After we were done getting ready, we went to the Great Hall for breakfast. That was quite possibly the best breakfast I'd ever had. I loaded my plate with eggs, toast, and sausage. I even finished off Pansy's oatmeal. 

The bell rang and I walked to Potions feeling like I was floating on a cloud or something. The people walking past me didn't look real. They looked like illusions kind of. I wondered in the back of my head if it really was noticeable that I wasn't, let's say, 'completely aware'. 

I walked into Potions, Blaise and Malfoy already sat at the table. I didn't even care I was going to have to put up with another day of him. 

"Good morning, Blaise," I said, taking my seat and grinning. 

"Morning..." Blaise said, looking at me weird. 

Malfoy scrunched up his nose and glared at me. "Why are you so giddy?" 

"It's called having real human emotions. You should try it sometime." 

"Yeah, well at least I didn't show up to class high out of my mind." 

"If you did, you probably wouldn't always behave like you had a stick up your ass. It really would benefit us all, I think." 

Blaise chuckled next to me and nudged my arm, giving me an approving nod. 

Malfoy's head snapped towards Blaise. 

"That funny to you, Blaise?" 

"I mean, kinda," he said, finally bursting out into laughter. I laughed with him until Snape came over to our table. 

"Having a good time over here, I see?" he said. 

Blaise and I nodded our heads. 

"Well don't." 

We all put our heads down, pretending to read from our books. Snape lingered around and sniffed the air, getting closer to me with each sniff. 

"Have you been in the greenhouse, Grey? You smell like... grass..." he said, staring at me suspiciously. 

I folded my hands in front of me and sat up straight, clearing my throat.

"Yes sir. I'm very passionate about Herbology, you see." 

"She sure is," Blaise said, snickering. 

Snape raised an eyebrow and stalked away from our table. Blaise and I burst out into laughter, holding our stomachs. I caught a glimpse of Malfoy holding in a smile from the opposite side of the table.

_

After Potions I found Hermione in the hallway already on her way to Defense Against the Dark Arts. 

"Hey," I said.

"Hi, Cass." She looked at me and cocked her head. "You alright? You look kind of tired."

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just didn't get much sleep," I answered, smiling. I knew Hermione was one of those people who would accept me for me being Slytherin or help me hide a dead body if I needed to, but would probably hex me if she found out I smoked. 

"So are you excited for the Tri-Wizard Tournament to start? I wonder who will be chosen." 

"Me too. Sucks you have to be seventeen to put your name in the Goblet of Fire, though. If you were seventeen, would you do it?" 

Hermione looked at me and started thinking. "I don't know... Probably not. Those competitions can be so dangerous, you never know what could happen." 

I nodded. 

"Would you do it if you could?" she asked. 

I'd never thought about it. It's crazy to even think about risking your life in a competition like that, especially as a teenager. Dumbledore did even warn us contestants could die.

I nodded again. 

"Yeah, I think I would."

"Really?" 

"Yeah! Do you know incredible it would be to say you were chosen for the Tri-Wizard Tournament? Everyone would know your name and for all the right reasons." 

I guess my Slytherin jumped out a bit because Hermione was now looking at me like I was insane. Slytherins and Gryffindors aren't that different, really. We both are way too ambitious and determined, we're just considered the bad guys. 

We got to our next class and I took my usual seat next to Pansy. 

"How are you feeling?" she asked, grinning. 

"Great," I said. "I think I'm starting to come back down to earth." 

"That's good."

"Is it?" I asked, making us both laugh. 

Professor Moody banged his cane on the floor loudly. Everyone's heads shot up to the front of the now silent room.

His eyes-or one real eye- scanned over the kids in the room. He scoffed.

"It seems as though Professor Dumbledore did not approve of my lesson yesterday. Apparently some students thought of it as 'dangerous' and 'inappropriate'. Well all I have to say is life is dangerous and you will be put in inappropriate situations, but you must know how to handle them!"

He put his hands behind back and paced across the front of the room. 

"There will always be evil around, even if you cannot see it or recognize it. Unbeknownst to you, there has been a monster hiding among us from the moment we entered this classroom." 

"He really shouldn't talk about Malfoy that way," I whispered to Pansy, making us and a few other kids around us chuckle. Professor Moody heard and looked at me, stopping his pacing. 

"Miss Grey... I knew your parents. Such noble people before- well, you know...." 

I looked at him in complete shock. How dare he bring up my parents in front of the whole class like this. It was completely unprofessional and I would have given a piece of my mind, if I wasn't so terribly scared of him. 

"What you lack in concentration I hope you make up for in skill. Come up here please." 

I slowly got up from my seat, all eyes on me. Usually I love it when all eyes are on me, but right now I felt like everyone was judging me. I kept my head down and made my way to the front of the classroom. The room was so quiet, everyone holding their breath waiting to see what was going to happen to me. 

"Now I assume you know the General Counter-Spell, Miss Grey?"

I nodded. "Y-yes sir." I cleared my throat, making sure to not trip over my words again. 

"Please cast it to my left to reveal the Concealment Charm I casted on this creature." 

I gripped my wand in my right hand and pointed it to the left of Professor Moody. "Finite Incantatem!" I said with a slight flick of the wrist. 

A ghoul appeared in the spot where, just a second ago, there was nothing. The sight of it made everyone gasp and jump in their seats. As much as I wanted to sit back down, I could only step back, making sure to keep distance between me and the monster. 

"For those of you who do not know, this is a ghoul. In order to teach you how looks can be deceiving, I have decided to bring one in to show you all. While ghouls may appear to be horrifying, they are in fact, relatively harmless. They are dimwitted, but can be aggressive." 

Aggressive? Why would he bring me to the front of the class if this thing was aggressive? 

"Ghouls are physical attackers, so spells that restrain them are most effective. Now, the ghoul will try to throw objects at you, so prepare to defend yourselves." 

The whole class cowered back in their chairs and braced for an attack from the ghoul. I still had nowhere to go since I was only a couple meters away. I decided to stand my ground until something was thrown at me. 

The ghoul grabbed a book from Professor Moody's desk and threw it into the crowd of students. He grabbed another thing off the desk- a quill, and threw it at Crabbe who was sat right next to Malfoy. The quill smacked Crabbe in the face, making Malfoy and the rest of the class burst out in laughter. I was too busy laughing at Crabbe to notice the ghoul grabbing another book and getting ready to throw it at me. I barely dodged it before seeing another book flying at me. I dodged it again and looked at Professor Moody for help. 

"How would you stop the ghoul from another attack?" he asked me. 

I thought hard about what to do while still dodging objects. I know! I dodged one last object hurling my way and stepped towards the ghoul, casting a defensive spell and making the ghoul completely freeze. 

I sighed in relief as the class clapped for me. I tried not to grin, but I'll admit, it felt really good getting praise from the rest of my peers. Pansy gave me a thumbs-up and a big smile from her seat. 

Professor Moody silenced the class and looked back at me. "Now how should we rid ourselves of this ghoul?" 

Myself and the rest of the class stared. Did he really expect me to kill this ghoul when Hermione couldn't even kill a spider yesterday? 

"Sir, I'm not sure if I can kill this-"

"What? I didn't mean kill it! You all thought I meant kill it? No! Besides, Dumbledore made it very clear to me he does not want that spell to be used in this classroom."

"Then would a shrinking charm do the trick?" I asked, making Professor Moody nod in approval. 

"Reducio!" 

The ghoul immediately shrunk to just a few centimeters. Professor Moody picked it up and placed it in a small chest on his desk. 

"Very good, Miss Grey. You can take a seat." 

I walked back to my seat, chin held high as the rest of the class clapped for me a second time. I spotted Malfoy reluctantly clapping for me, which made me feel even more accomplished.


	5. Chapter 5

I went about the rest of my day, making sure to brag about what happened in Dark Arts at lunch. 

"There's no way you did that by yourself," Blaise said, fully invested in my story. 

"I did! And I was up there dodging books like I was James Bond, right Pansy?" 

"Who's James Bond?" she asked, giggling. 

"From the muggle movies, you've never seen 'em? Anyways I was great up there today."

"We get it, you managed to shrink a harmless ghoul," Malfoy said. He was sat next to Blaise with Crabbe and Goyle. 

"Like you could have done any better? Mind your own business." 

He rolled his eyes and I went back to talking with Blaise and Pansy when I heard someone say my name. 

"Grey, is it?" 

I turned around to see a tall dark-haired boy in Slytherin robes standing behind me. I recognized him from class and the common room. I nodded, too focused on his attractiveness to speak. 

"I just wanted to say it was pretty badass what you did in class today, with the ghoul." 

"I know- I mean, thank you," I stuttered, grinning like an idiot. 

He laughed and shoved his hands in his pockets. His teeth were so nice and he had perfect dimples and his laugh was so cute. He was just so perfect. 

"So, um, I'll see you around?" he asked, smiling his perfect smile. 

"Definitely," I answered. He nodded and walked away, still smiling at me. 

When he was gone I turned to Pansy and my jaw dropped. 

"Who was that!?" I asked still smiling. 

Pansy laughed. "Adrian Pucey. Super hot, right?" 

I nodded. Blaise cleared his throat and looked at us. He looked at little annoyed. 

"You know, he's on the quidditch team with me," he said.

"He's on the quidditch team? He just got ten times hotter, if that's even possible!"

"I know right!" Pansy laughed. 

Blaise looked really annoyed when she said that.

I begged Pansy to tell me more about Adrian Pucey so that's what we did the remainder of lunch. 

_

I walked into Transfiguration and took a seat next to Malfoy. He always looked like he was angry with me. Honestly, that's kind of how he looks at everyone. I guess he's just angry with the world. 

"Adrian Pucey, huh?" he said. 

"Why do you care?" I asked. 

"I don't." 

"I think you do. I think you care that I'm getting praised for what I did in Dark Arts, I think you care that Adrian Pucey has taken an interest in me, and I think you care about what happens to me precisely because I don't care about what happens to you." 

Malfoy stared at me, his piercing blue eyes shifting from one of my eyes to the other and back to the other one again. His eyes hid secrets, but also if you really looked at them, could reveal exactly what he was feeling. I knew I threw him off-guard so with that, I started taking notes trying to ignore the guilt I felt for putting him down, no matter how many times he had put me down. 

_

Before I knew it, it was October and I had been at Hogwarts for nearly two months. I spent most of my time with Pansy and Blaise, who I can confidently call my best friends. I studied with Hermione in the library sometimes, therefore ending up studying with Harry and Ron sometimes. Those three are inseparable. And like every cheesy coming of age movie I'd ever watched, I had a developing love interest. Adrian and I had been hanging out a lot, getting to know each other. Also in coming of age movie fashion, I had an arch nemesis: Draco Malfoy. Whether it be in Potions, Transfiguration, during lunch, or even in the common room, we found ways to get on each other's nerves. 

So far, my first year Hogwarts has been a busy one. The Tri-Wizard Tournament was still the first thing on everyone's minds. During the Hallowe'en Feast, everyone gathered in the Great Hall for the Champion Selection. Pansy, Blaise and I found a spot together and sat down. Since none of us were old enough to our our names in the Goblet of Fire, all we had to do was wait to see who was going to be chosen. 

"I heard Fred and George Weasley tried to use an aging potion to put their names in," Blaise said, laughing. 

"Of course they did! They're probably the only Gryffindors I enjoy being around," Pansy said. 

The sound of Dumbledore's strong voice got everyone's attention. 

"Now, the moment you've all been waiting for: the Champion Selection!" 

With just a gesture of his hand he put out all the fires lighting up the room and focused all the energy into the Goblet of Fire. The Goblet's flame turned to a bright red and out flew a piece of paper with the first champion's name on it. Dumbledore caught it and read it carefully. 

"The Durmstrang champion is Viktor Krum!" 

Everyone cheered and the other Durmstrang boys congratulated Viktor as he walked to Dumbledore's office. The flame turned a bright red again and Dumbledore caught the piece of paper with the next champion's name on it. 

"The Champion from Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!"

I gasped and stood up to join in the applause. I whooped and shouted congratulatories at her until she heard me and looked over, smiling. I smiled back and gave her a big thumbs up before she left for Dumbledore's office. 

"You know her?" Pansy asked. 

"Yeah. I transferred from Beauxbatons." 

"You what!? How come you didn't tell me?" 

"You don't seem like a Beauxbatons girl," Blaise said. 

"I know. That's why my parents sent me there." 

I sat back down, ready to hear who from Hogwarts would be competing. 

The Goblet threw out the last piece of paper and Dumbledore carefully read: "The Hogwarts champion... Cedric Diggory!" 

Everyone clapped again, excited for our classmate. Cedric was a Hufflepuff who I'd never met, but apparently was pretty popular. Hermione told me she'd hung out with him before, though. 

Cedric shook Dumbledore's hand and went to his office to wait with the other champions. 

"Excellent!" Dumbledore said when he was gone. "We now have our three champions! But in the end, only one will go down in history. Only one will hoist this chalice of champions, this vessel of victory, the Tri-Wizard Cup!" 

A beautiful shining cup with 'Tri-Wizard' engraved on it was revealed. It looked like it probably weighed a ton, but it was so pretty and sparkly nonetheless. I couldn't help but imagine the feeling of winning one of the biggest competitions in the wizarding world and being able to flaunt a prize like that. 

In the midst of everyone's applause, Dumbledore turned around to the Goblet of Fire. The flames were going crazy, going from its normal blue color to the bright red again. The flames shot up from the Goblet and out flew another piece of paper. Everyone looked around confused as Dumbledore read what was on it. 

"Harry Potter..." he said to himself. He looked around the room. "Harry Potter!" he said louder.

"Harry Potter!" he was practically screaming at this point and looking around frantically for Harry. I found him being nudged to go by Hermione. He looked confused, scared even.

He finally got up and slowly walked over to Dumbledore. Dumbledore stared at him and handed him the piece of aper with his name on it. Harry stalked away towards Dumbledore's office as everyone was left confused. 

"He's a cheat!" someone said. 

"He's not even seventeen yet!" someone else shouted. 

When Harry was gone, chaos erupted. People were shouting, furious at how a fourth-year managed to get his name in the Goblet of Fire. Dumbledore dismissed us and he and the staff went to his office. Blaise, Pansy and I began walking to our dorms. 

"How did he manage to get his name in the Goblet?" I asked, unable to wrap my head around it. 

"More importantly, how did Dumbledore allow him to?" Blaise said. 

"Are you kidding? He's Harry Potter! 'The Boy Who Lived'!" Pansy said, mockingly. 

As much as I wanted to be upset at Harry, I couldn't help thinking something weird was going on. He would never go against anything Dumbledore said. 

When we all got to the common room, the three of us sat by the fireplace and got some homework done. We were making small talk and laughing when Malfoy came over with Theodore Nott and sat next to Blaise. They did their stupid guy handshake thing and talked about quidditch or whatever while Pansy and I worked on our homework. 

"Can you believe Potter managed to get his name in the Goblet? I bet he had an upperclassman do it for him. Of course Dumbledore let him get away with it," Malfoy said. 

"We don't know that," I chimed in. 

Malfoy glared at me and scoffed. 

"Why are you defending Harry Potter?" Theodore asked. 

"I'm not! I just find it hard to believe he would do that. Even he looked surprised when Dumbledore called his name." 

"Yeah I did notice that," Blaise said. 

"Whatever," Pansy began. "Harry Potter can get away with anything. He always finds a way to be the center of attention." 

I sat there, remembering all the times my parents and their "colleagues" discussed Harry. He always had their attention without even knowing it. He had the whole wizarding world's attention for years without even knowing it. And looking at the kids sat around me at that moment, I realized we were all thinking of the moments Harry stole something from us. It's not like he did it on purpose, but our parents all worked for a certain wizard who gave him his fame. 

I was snapped out of my thoughts as Pansy elbowed me in the side. 

"Someone's staring..." she said in a sing-songy tone. 

I looked to where she was gesturing and saw Adrian Pucey sat at a table on the other side of the common room with some friends. I flashed a smile and waved. He waved back and I looked back at my homework, feeling my ears getting hot. 

"Are you blushing!?" Pansy said, laughing. 

"No! Cut it out!" I said, nudging her. It only made her laugh more. 

"Cass has a crush on Pucey! Future Mrs. Cassiopeia Pucey over here!" 

"You are so stupid!" I laughed. 

Thankfully she wasn't that loud, but it was still embarrassing enough to cover my face and hide my red cheeks. 

Pansy stopped laughing and said, "Where's he going?" 

I uncovered my face and looked up. Only Blaise and Theodore were left on the couch infront of Pansy and I. I looked towards the boy's dorms and Malfoy was already gone. I caught one last glimpse of him before he disappeared into his dorm. 

"Nice job. You were so annoying, Malfoy took off," Blaise said to Pansy. 

"He gets annoyed over everything. He's so dramatic," she said in response. 

I ignored Malfoy's little tantrum and went back to my homework. I wondered why he left so suddenly, though. Was he really that bothered by Adrian? 

_

Pansy and I sat in our beds, not quite ready to go to sleep. We talked about little things like Adrian, classes, I teased her about Blaise. There was a moment of silence, however, where it was just us and our thoughts. 

"You really think Dumbledore's gonna let Harry compete?" I asked, unable to get the thought off my mind. Pansy sat up in her bed, making me sit up too, ready to hear what she had to say. 

"I know Dumbledore is gonna let Harry compete. Let me tell you a little story, Cass. Picture our Slytherin class about three years ago. We were all little eager first-years ready to take on Hogwarts. The year went great, we were earning house points as if it were as easy as breathing. We were all such exemplary students. When it got to the end of the year, a goblin was released into the school by a teacher being controlled by Voldemort. Of course Harry, Hermione, and Ron were the ones to defeat it. When it came time to see who would be getting the house cup, we were all so excited. Gryffindor was in fourth place with three-hundred and twelve points. We were in first place with four-hundred and seventy-two points. Can you believe? Us being in first place? Anyway, we thought we had it in the bag. We didn't realize yet what kind of hatred we would face in the future." 

Pansy's eyes shifted around the room, trying to think of what to say next. 

"So we won?" I asked. 

Pansy shook her head. 

"No. Right when we were on that high- that feeling of accomplishment, Dumbledore awarded fifty points to Hermione. Then fifty points to Ron. Then sixty points to Harry. Then we were tied with Gryffindor. So Dumbledore gave an extra ten points to Neville and Gryffindor won the house cup. We learned then and there that we'd have to work harder than anyone else. We got here when we were eleven and we're fourteen now and in that time the light from our eyes faded, the drive we once had is gone, and we don't even have the energy to try anymore because we know we will be let down. So that's how I know Dumbledore will let Harry compete." 

Pansy's eyes were red and watery. She laid back down and turned off her bedside lamp. I laid down too and turned off my lamp. What Pansy said reminded me of how I was treated at Beauxbatons sometimes. Girls were scared of me because of my parents and the only reason I was popular was for that. My first year there was terrible. Some girls figured out who I was and cornered me in a bathroom. They beat the shit out of me and left me there. I didn't want to get up. Not until Fleur found me there, laying on the bathroom floor bloody and bruised. She sat down next to me and didn't say anything. To me, that silence said a million words. She was the first person to understand me. After that, we were always together. She called me her little sister and she was my big sister. I was going to have to fight this year. I was going to have to fight to prove myself.


	6. Chapter 6

Since it was Friday, there was a quidditch game that evening so that was the only thing on everyone's minds. 

Blaise, Pansy, and I sat in the courtyard talking. It was nice to be outside breathing in the fresh air. 

"You guys are coming to watch the game, right?" Blaise asked. 

"Of course," Pansy answered. 

"It's okay Blaise, you don't have to pretend you were asking the both of us. You really only wanted to know if Pansy was going," I said. 

Pansy then proceeded to smack me with a book and give me her 'I'm going to kill you when we get to our dorm' face. I laughed and nudged Blaise. Thankfully he could take a joke. Except it wasn't really a joke. 

In the midst of fighting for my life in front of Pansy, I noticed something was blocking the sunlight shining down on me. I looked up and Adrian Pucey stood in front of the sun, illuminating his hair and Greek sculpture-like features. 

"Hello, Grey," he said. 

"Hello, Pucey." 

"You wanna walk with me?" 

"Yeah, sure." 

I got up and we walked a few yards away, until he made sure we were out of ear's reach from Pansy and Blaise. I could see Pansy staring at us, straining to hear what we were saying. 

"So you're coming to the quidditch game tonight?" 

"Obviously. You guys are playing against Hufflepuff, right?" I asked. I knew the answer already, I just needed something to keep the conversation going. 

"Yep, should be an easy victory." 

We laughed together, me maybe laughing a little too hard. Shit, did I laugh too hard?

"Anyway I was wondering if after the game you'd want to hang out? The whole team is meeting up in Malfoy's dorm and we're just gonna have some drinks and stuff. You can bring Pansy if you want." 

Ugh. Malfoy's dorm. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices to get that dick. I tried playing it cool, as if I hadn't already planned on sitting in my own dorm after the game and eating snacks while reading muggle magazines. 

"Um yeah, I don't think I'll be busy or anything." 

"Cool."

"Cool." 

Adrian grinned, making me grin. 

"I'll see you tonight?" 

"See ya tonight." 

Adrian stalked off leaving me still grinning. I walked back to Pansy and Blaise. 

"You're grinning like an idiot," Pansy said. "What did you guys talk about?" 

"Well first off, how come you didn't tell us you were hanging out in Malfoy's dorm after the game?" I asked Blaise. 

"Aw, man. Did he invite you?" 

I gasped dramatically. "Why don't you want me there!?"

"Wait, am I invited??" Pansy asked. 

"Yes," I answered. 

"Good." 

"Look, when we hang out after the games it gets kind of crazy," Blaise said. 

"Crazy how?" I asked. 

"Well last time we almost got caught... Let's just say that could have been our last day at Hogwarts if we did." 

"What did you guys do?" Pansy asked. 

Blaise looked around as if we were all part of a secret drug exchange or something. He leaned closer to us and whispered: 

"We... stole a pumpkin from Hagrid's hut..." 

Pansy and I looked at each other before bursting out into laughter. It got to that point where we were laughing so hard no noise was coming out and we could barely breathe. 

"What!?" Blaise kept asking. "What's so funny!?" 

"Pansy I don't know if we should hang out with them tonight. I wouldn't want to end up in Azkaban for pumpkin stealing!" 

Pansy laughed so hard she snorted. "You're right, Cass! Wouldn't want to be the next Sirius Black!" 

We kept laughing as Blaise kept trying to defend himself. 

"Look, fine. Whatever, come hang out tonight. Let's see what happens." 

"Right, well I'll tell them to get a cell ready for us!" I said. 

"Right next to Bellatrix Lestrange!" Pansy practically screamed, making people stare at us wondering why we were laughing about a mass murderer under the command of Voldemort. 

Blaise scoffed and stomped off, leaving Pansy and I holding our stomachs from laughing. 

_

Pansy and I left for the quidditch pitch and tried to find a good spot. All the spots at the front were taken so Pansy decided to take matters into her own hands. 

"Hold on to me," she said, extending her arm out for me to grab. I grabbed her arm tight as she began to push her way to the front. 

"'Scuse us, move over!" she said. "We're Blaise Zabini's best friends and she's shaggin' Adrian Pucey, let us through!" 

"Wh- I am not!" Or I could pretend I was if it meant we got to the front. Eventually we did and caught our breath. We got some stares, but we knew nobody was going to say anything to us. 

First the Hufflepuff team came out on their broomsticks, stirring up a crowd of applause. Then the Slytherin team made their big entrance, causing a much bigger uproar including Pansy and I. 

"Look, there he is!" Pansy said, tapping on my shoulder. I looked towards the direction she was pointing to and saw Blaise on his broomstick. He saw us and waved, causing us to wave back excitedly. 

If I'm being honest, I don't know jack shit about quidditch. I just know the basics: the keeper guards the hoops from the other team, the beaters just throw bludgers at each other, the chasers score goals with the quaffle, and then the seeker tries to catch the snitch. If that happens, the game is over. 

A whistle blew, commencing the game. Players flew all around the pitch. It became a mixture of green and yellow. Pansy and I focused on Blaise who was guarding the hoops from the other team's chasers. When the quaffle was thrown his way he defended the hoops however he had to. A chaser from our team made the first goal, sending the crowd into chaos. In the midst of said chaos, the chaser flew towards Pansy and I. Adrian? He stopped on his broomstick and gave me a smile and a wink before flying off again. 

"Did you see that!?" Pansy said. 

"Yeah! How could I not have!?" I laughed. 

I guess Adrian was a pretty good chaser since he was kind of the only one making goals after that. Each time he did, he'd find me in the crowd and flash me a smile. When he flew off, I looked behind him and saw Malfoy. Is he a chaser or a beater?

"What's Malfoy's position?" I asked Pansy. 

"Seeker," she said. 

"What!? He's really the seeker?" 

"Yup. That's what daddy's money gets you." 

I looked back at Malfoy but he wasn't there. Instead he was flying around the pitch blindly. The snitch wasn't even on the pitch! The Hufflepuff seeker was going after it! 

"What's he doing!?"

"I don't know..." Pansy said. "But he's costing us this game." She started shouting at Malfoy to go find the snitch, but he couldn't hear her. 

Just then Adrian made another goal and gave me yet another smile. He flew away with Malfoy close behind him. 

"Is he following Adrian!?" 

"Fucking dumb-ass!" Pansy shouted. That time Malfoy was close enough to hear her. He gave Pansy an annoyed look and flew after Adrian. The two of them ended up arguing before Malfoy flew off, but on his way, knocked Adrian off his broom. The crowd gasped as they watched Adrian fall to the ground. Hagrid hurried towards him and picked him up to get him treated. Malfoy was already in the clouds chasing after the snitch. 

Pansy and I looked at each other, baffled. The best chaser on our team was shoved off his broom by his fellow teammate. What the fuck? Is Malfoy actually mental? It was a good thing Blaise is such a great keeper. He managed to keep our score than Hufflepuff's while Malfoy was after the snitch. 

Hufflepuff's seeker soon came back down to the pitch. We looked on helplessly, wondering if the snitch was in his hands. His teammates looked at him, wondering the same thing. He shook his head and looked down. 

"Yes!" Pansy and I cheered. Just then, Malfoy flew down proudly displaying the golden snitch in his hand. The announcer ended the game and the crowd went wild. We all thought we were gonna have our asses handed to us by Hufflepuff, but we weren't going to let that happen so easily. 

After he game we went to find Blaise. He was leaving the boy's locker room with a huge smile on his face. 

"Man, I really thought we were about to lose back there!" he said. 

"So did we! What in Merlin's name was Malfoy doing out there?" Pansy asked. 

Blaise shrugged. "I have no clue. I'm gonna go see Adrian in the hospital, you guys wanna come?" 

"Sure," Pansy and I said. 

"Yeah, Cass probably wants to know how her boyfriend is doing," Pansy said laughing. 

"He's not my boyfriend... I wouldn't be complaining if he was, though!" 

"Yes! My girl!" Pansy said, giving me a high-five. The three of us laughed and made our way to the hospital. 

_

When we got to the clinic, the whole quidditch team was there along with Professor Snape. 

"Tell me exactly what happened," I could hear him say. 

The closer we got, the better I could see who he was talking to. It was Malfoy. 

"Nothing! I told Adrian to pay attention to the game and flew away. I didn't push him off on purpose!" 

Now us and the whole team were staring at the quarrel going on between the two. Malfoy looked pissed and I could tell Snape was getting annoyed. 

"What happened, Mr. Pucey?" Snape asked. Adrian was sat in a bed with his arm bandaged up. 

"Pretty much what Malfoy said, sir. I don't know if he pushed me off on purpose, but what I do know is that I was paying attention to the game. I was the one scoring us goals the whole time!" Adrian said, eyeing Malfoy. 

"You were distracted and I was just telling you to get your head back in the game!" Malfoy retorted back. 

"Distracted by what?" Adrian asked. 

Malfoy sighed and crossed his arms. He looked around the room, his eyes stopping on me. Guess he didn't know I was there since the whole team was now staring at me. 

"Alright," Snape said. "Let's give Adrian some room." Malfoy stomped off, everyone else following slowly behind. Blaise, Pansy, and I turned and stalked out. 

"Wait, Cass," Adrian said from his bed. 

I looked at Pansy and Blaise. "We'll be in the common room," Pansy said. I nodded and they left, leaving Adrian and I alone. I took a seat next to him. 

"Sorry I got you shoved off your broom," I said. 

Adrian laughed. "Don't be. It was all Malfoy, that asshole." 

"Does it hurt?" I asked, pointing to his arm. 

"Oh, it's not too bad. Madame Pomfrey said I should be healed up in a couple weeks." 

"That's good." 

"Yeah. Hey, I'm sorry we won't get to hang out tonight. I have to stay here till tomorrow." 

"It's fine, really. We can hang out another time. You know, when your arm isn't in a splint." 

We laughed and Adrian took my hand in his. He looked at me before kissing the top of my hand, sending butterflies to my stomach. I grinned and stood up. 

"I, erm, I gotta go. Pansy and Blaise are waiting for me." 

"See you later." 

I looked back one more time and waved goodbye to my bed-ridden crush. On my way out of the hospital I bumped into someone. Malfoy? Again? 

"Watch it," I said. 

"Calm down, Grey." 

"Were you listening in on us? You already sent him plummeting to the bottom of the quidditch pitch, he doesn't need you eavesdropping on his conversations." 

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Get off your high horse already. I came to apologize to him." 

"Oh," I said, crossing my arms. I didn't really expect that. "Well go on then." 

"I am," Malfoy said. He walked into the clinic and I left for the Slytherin common room. Why did I feel like he wasn't actually capable of genuinely apologizing?


	7. Chapter 7

"Wait, he actually kissed your hand??" Pansy said. 

The first thing I did when I got to the common room was sit with Pansy and tell her about Adrian. 

"Yes! I always thought that was just something someone made up a long time ago! Like what guy is kind enough to do that? Well apparently Adrian is. He's the kind of guy who kisses your hand even when he's the one hurt." 

"You really hit the jackpot with him," Pansy said, looking away from me. I followed her gaze and found she was staring at Blaise on the other side of the room. Duh. 

"He'll come around," I whispered, making sure no one heard me. Pansy looked at me and smiled. That was the first time she didn't get upset with me when I mentioned her liking Blaise.

"Speak of the devil," she said as Blaise began walking toward us. 

"You two still up for tonight in Malfoy's dorm?" he asked. 

"I'm not sure. Adrian's not even gonna be there," I said. 

"We'll be there!" Pansy said, pointing between her and Blaise. 

I smiled. She was right; hanging out with them is always fun. "Fine." 

"Great. Be in Malfoy's dorm in 10 minutes." Blaise said, walking away. 

Pansy and I still had on our uniforms, so we went to our dorm to change clothes. We figured it was appropriate to just wear jeans and a sweater. It's not like we were going to a ball or anything. 

About ten, maybe fifteen, minutes later we arrived in Malfoy's dorm. It was grand. The ceiling was so high, the whole room so much bigger than anyone else's I've been in. I wondered what kind of strings his dad had to pull for him to get this room. Weirdly it was super clean, like spotless. As if no one was even living in it. 

"You're late," Blaise said, handing us drinks. 

"Whatever, you were just early," Pansy said. Blaise looked at her like she was stupid. That's something only he can get away with doing. 

We took a seat on one of the couches and made small talk with the rest of the team. 

"So Cass, heard you're dating our star chaser," Terrence Higgs said. 

"Shut up," I said, feeling myself blushing. 

Terrence laughed. "I hope he doesn't have to miss too many games. You guys remember when it was me and him against each other for seeker?" 

The quidditch team nodded in agreement.

"You mean Adrian could have been a seeker?" I asked. 

"Yup," Theodore answered. "But Flint chose Terrence, can't say I blame him. No offense to Adrian, he just likes to show off." 

Everybody laughed, reminiscing on the past. The past I wasn't here for. I just sat there and tried to imagine a younger Adrian chasing after the snitch.

"Yeah, being seeker was great. But some things change and you get bumped down to chaser..." Terrence said glaring and Crabbe and Goyle. I wondered what that was about. 

"It doesn't matter. Malfoy is our star seeker now," Goyle said. 

"Are you mental? Terrence was the best seeker we've ever had! Malfoy just stole the position right out from under him," Pansy said, getting a death-stare from Goyle. "Where is that foul little git, anyway?" 

Just then Malfoy walked into the room with a bottle in his hand. "Just getting another one of these," he said holding up the bottle. "Always a pleasure, Pansy." 

Pansy gave him a sarcastic smile and took a sip from her cup. I hadn't drank anything yet. The last time I drank around Malfoy the worst that could ever happen to me happened. 

"So what do you have planned for tonight?" Blaise asked Malfoy. 

"More pumpkin stealing?" I whispered to Pansy, making us both giggle quietly. 

"What're you two laughing about?" Malfoy asked, annoyed. 

"Your mum," I said, hopefully shutting him up. It just made Pansy and a few of the quidditch players laugh and annoy Malfoy more. 

He rolled his eyes and ignored me. "I was thinking we'd sneak up to the astronomy tower and hang out there." 

"Sounds like a plan," Blaise said. 

Some guys began packing book bags full of bottles wrapped in shirts and started walking to the astronomy tower. Pansy nudged me. 

"This is how you get on Malfoy's good side." She pulled a plastic bag containing two rolled joints from her pocket. "Hey Malfoy!"

He turned around and caught the bag Pansy threw to him. He looked at it and grinned. "Nice one, Parkinson." 

"Whatever," Pansy said. She smirked at me and took a sip from her cup. 

While I admired how Pansy hated Malfoy yet still bribed him with things like weed, I was not at all interested in getting on his good side. There was no reason. My parents hated the Malfoy's so it's not like I'd be doing them a favor. I already made friends with a Parkinson and a Zabini. 

After walking across campus and up a huge flight of stairs, we got to the top of the astronomy tower. I'd never been up here before. I went to the edge and looked out across the school grounds. The late night breeze felt cool and refreshing on my face and through my hair.

"Cass!" I heard Pansy say. I turned around to see her waving me over towards everyone else. We all sat down and poured some drinks and started talking. When it eventually got quiet and awkward, Malfoy cleared his throat. 

"This is getting boring, how about a game? Truth or dare?" 

Everyone was up for it- everyone but me. I hate truth or dare. It's just a childish game that guys play to make a situation sexual or even more awkward. But I wasn't going to be a buzzkill and bring the mood down, so as far as everyone else knew, I was up for it too. 

Malfoy set and empty bottle on its side in the middle of the circle we were sat in and spun it. It landed on Blaise. 

"Truth or dare?" he asked. 

"Truth," Blaise answered. 

Malfoy sat and and thought of a question and when he had it he smirked. 

"Why haven't you shagged Pansy yet?

Oh no...

I couldn't keep my jaw from dropping and neither could anyone else. I couldn't even bare to look at Pansy. But I did. Merlin, she had fire in her eyes. She glared at Malfoy with such anger even I felt scared of her and what she might do. And Blaise, poor Blaise just looked so helpless. I could tell he was uncomfortable stumbling over his words trying to find an answer to Malfoy's question. Well I had one. 

"To be fair, I don't think that's any of your business," I said. 

He looked at me and scoffed. "All he has to do is answer the question." 

"How do you expect anyone to answer a question like that? How would you like it if I asked you who you've been shagging?" 

"I wouldn't mind telling you. It'd be a long list, though," Malfoy said grinning. He looked at Crabbe and Goyle for their reactions which, of course, were stupid smirks. 

"Really?" I asked. "Every single one of them? Even little hookups at parties? Perhaps.. oh I don't know.. in bathrooms?" 

Malfoy's grin faded as he glared at me. He bit his lip in anger and looked around at everyone. Everyone was staring- they had no clue what I was talking about. But Malfoy did. Malfoy knew exactly what I was talking about. He looked at me one more time before opening his mouth again. 

"Your turn, Blaise," he muttered.

I smirked at Pansy and Blaise, very proud of what I had just done. Nobody ever put Malfoy in his place, it's a miracle I came around to do so. 

Despite how the night started, the rest of it was pretty fun. We emptied more bottles, passed around the joints Pansy brought, played more games. I eventually forgot the sourpusses like Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were there until one of them made a stupid remark or something. 

It was a little past midnight when we all left the astronomy tower for our own dorms. We had to be extra quiet sneaking around the castle, which wasn't easy with the alcohol and weed in our systems. When we got to the common room, Pansy and I said goodnight to Blaise and went to our dorm. Changing into my pajamas was the best feeling in the world. Pansy and I crawled into bed and stayed up a bit chatting. 

"Hey, thanks for shutting Malfoy up earlier," Pansy said from her bed. 

"Someone had to do it," I said, chuckling. 

"He is truly the worst. He seriously just doesn't give a shit about anyone! You know why? His whole life he's just been handed things, he's never had to work a day in his life!" 

"Is that how he became seeker?" I asked, remembering how Terrence used to claim that title. 

"Yes! Our second year his father bribed the quidditch team with new broomsticks. Of course Flint gave him the position of seeker because he's equally an ass. That's why he wasn't invited tonight." 

Pansy and I laughed. I couldn't believe how selfish one person could be. I mean it didn't really surprise me since it was the Malfoys, but it still boiled by blood. I guess some wizarding families are just more ignorant than others.


	8. Chapter 8

Today is the day of the first Tri-Wizard competition. These past few weeks have been spent celebrating and getting ready. Hermione said the first competition would have something to do with dragons, so needless to say we were all on edge. 

During lunch Blaise, Pansy, and I sat together and discussed what we thought might happen. 

"Potter's gonna get his ass handed to him by that dragon," Pansy said. 

"Can't say I disagree with you," said Blaise. 

"I don't know, I mean it's Harry Potter," I chimed in. 

"Yeah but we're not even sure Harry knew his name was in the Goblet of Fire. Considering who he's up against, he's got no chance," Pansy said, picking at her food. 

Speaking of who he's up against, I looked over to where Fleur was sitting. I hadn't even asked her how she was feeling about the competition. I've been super busy with classes, I've barely even taken the time to sit and talk with her.

"I'll be right back," I told Blaise and Pansy before standing up from my seat and walking over to Fleur. She was sat with her little sister. I hadn't seen her in a long time. 

"Hey," I said sitting next to Fleur. "Hi, Gabrielle," I said to her sister. She smiled at me and I turned back to Fleur. 

"Are you ready for the competition?" I asked. 

Fleur nodded. "I think so. I'm really nervous, though. A lot of people are rooting for me to do well and Rita Skeeter has been on my tail trying to get me make comments for her to write about. She doesn't even write what I say- she just twists my words!" 

I grinned at her. She has a tendency to talk a lot when she's nervous. I knew she was more scared than she was letting on. 

"You got this. Don't worry about what other people are thinking or what Rita Skeeter is writing about. You can win this thing." 

Fleur smiled at me and placed her hand on mine. 

"Thank you, Cass."

_

Before the competition, I decided to go to the owlery to see if I got any mail. The only letter I'd received from my parents was after my first week and it was basically only "We miss you, honey. How was your fist week?" I knew they didn't really miss me all that much. They were probably having dinner parties with death eaters every night. Even if I didn't have any mail, I loved going to the owlery. Listening to the owls hoot and watching them sleep is so calming. If I ever feel overwhelmed, the owlery is where I go. 

When I got there, an owl flew over to me and dropped an envelope in my hands. It was from my parents. I opened it and read the words written in my mother's handwriting. 

Dear Cassiopeia,  
Your father and I hope you are doing well. We have been very busy lately. An old friend of ours is about to make a reappearance after being gone for quite a while. We will be busier than ever making sure he gets what he needs and is able to fulfill what he set out to do so long ago. He hasn't seen you since you were a baby- we can't wait for you to meet him! Do not be upset if we are not able to write. Great things are to come, Cassiopeia. You will have to be dauntless and stand by our side when we need you. We shall be almighty.   
Sincerely,  
Mum and Dad

I read the letter a few times trying to wrap my head around what they were trying to say. Almighty? I will have to be dauntless? Who is this 'old friend' they spoke of? 

Every time I read the last line I got chills down my spine. I felt like I was going to throw up and I had no idea why. I just didn't have a good feeling about this. I found a place to sit on my floor and think. 

I don't know how long I sat there rereading the letter and listening to the owls. Who have I not seen since I was a baby? What does he need to fulfill? What great things are to come? Why should I have to stand with them when they need me? What do they mean by 'we will be almighty'? 

I stood up and paced around the owlery. Now I was getting anxious and my hands were starting to shake. It's never good when my hands start to shake. I looked at the owl that brought me my letter. I noticed it wasn't my usual owl that brought me my mail. I recognized that owl. My parents would use it to send letters to other death eaters when they would plan secret meetings. Why would they send me this owl? 

I stopped pacing and stared at the owl. My heart dropped to my stomach. 

"No..."

Could it really be? He isn't back, is he? My mother wasn't talking about him, was she? I kept repeating "no, no, no" because that was all I could think of. My eyes traced over the letter again. 

"Old friend of ours is making a reappearance... able to fulfill what he set out to do so long ago... he hasn't seen you since you were a baby..." I mumbled to myself. 

There's someone else he probably hasn't seen since they were a baby. 

"Harry..." 

Harry... the competition, shit! I looked at my watch and realized I'd missed an hour of the competition. I frantically tried to find a stationary kit. I knew my parents weren't going to write back, but I had to make sure they were talking about who I thought they were. I found a stationary kit and wrote a letter to my parents asking every single question I had that was floating around my head. Every single question I had that made my hands shaky, that made me what to throw up, that made me hate my parents even more. I shoved the letter into an envelope before the owl that delivered me my letter grabbed it between its talons and flew away. 

I felt light-headed and sick but I had to get to the competition. I had to get to the competition and pretend like I didn't just receive news that the Dark Lord was back. 

_

I practically had to run to the arena where the competition was being held. The cold November air hit my face and made my eyes watery and the tip of my nose pink. I wrapped my scarf around my neck as I hurried through the arena seats trying. I looked around until I saw Pansy waving her hands around. I made my way to where she and Blaise were sitting. I took a seat next to her and caught my breath. 

"Where have you been?!" Pansy asked. 

"Sorry I just- I don't know, I just lost track of time." 

I didn't know how to explain how I actually spent hours in the owlery stressing over the fact that my parents want me to help them with Voldemort's return. 

"What'd I miss?" I asked. 

"Well Potter's the only one left," Blaise answered. 

"Really? How'd everyone else do? How'd Fleur do?" 

Pansy looked at me. "For crying out loud, settle down Cass. Fleur did great. Now we just have to see if Potter's dead meat or not." 

I nodded and focused my attention on the middle of the arena. A gigantic Hungarian Horn-Tail sat there chained up. I then heard Professor Dumbledore's voice echo around the whole arena. 

"Three of our champions have now faced their dragons, so each one of them will proceed to the next task! And now our fourth and final contestant!" 

With that, Harry walked out into the arena looking more nervous than ever. Harry started for the golden egg, but the dragon whipped its tail right in front of him. Fire emerged from the dragon's mouth, barely hitting Harry who was now climbing up the rocks of the arena. The dragon kept swinging its tail about until it hit Harry, sending him flying. The crowd cringed at the impact of Harry's body on the rocks. 

Harry crawled to a safe spot and yelled, "Accio Firebolt!" And with a flick of his wand his broom appeared in seconds. 

Harry hopped on his broom and started flying around the arena, escaping any breaths of fire coming from the dragon. The dragon flew after Harry, escaping from his chain. Harry flew through the seats of the arena, the dragon following closely behind. The dragon's tail ripped the fabric covering the professor's seats. Us students laughed at the sight of our teachers knocked to the floor and stunned by what had just happened. At this point Harry and the dragon were gone- no one could see them. 

We were left in silence for minutes, wondering when or if Harry and the dragon would come back. The tension was thick as we all looked at each other. We were all nervous even if no one wanted to admit it. 

As we searched the sky on the edge of our seats, Harry flew back to the arena making the crowd cheer and clap with relief. Harry swooped down on his broom and grabbed the golden egg. The crowd applauded and Dumbledore declared victory for Harry. I couldn't help feeling sorry for him. There could be a strong chance that the wizard who tried to kill him as a baby would be back soon to try to kill him again. I couldn't imagine how a fourteen year-old could live a normal teenage life and still try to escape death. It's not like we were friends or anything. I mean we'd spoken before, but he's still my classmate and he deserves to live. I wondered if I should tell him about my eerie letter I received.


	9. Chapter 9

That night a party was held in the Gryffindor common room, so naturally us Slytherins had no plans for the evening. Pansy and I ended up going to our dorm pretty early. Pansy was already passed out by ten o'clock, but I couldn't sleep. I snuck out to the common room and sat by the fire. I could only stare at the flames and reread the letter in my hands. 

"What are you doing down here?" a voice behind me asked. 

Malfoy. Of course. I rolled my eyes refusing to turn around and look at him. 

"It's my common room too, you know," I said. 

"I-I just mean what are you doing awake?" 

I was confused as to why he was making conversation with me. His voice sounded shaky and he was still stood in the middle of the common room, far away from me. I couldn't help but turn around and look him up and down. 

"I could ask you the same thing." 

He looked down and shoved his hands in his pockets. Wait... I started thinking. This is Draco Malfoy, maybe he might know something about what my parents were saying in the letter. I stood up and walked towards the bleach blonde boy. 

"What do you know about the Dark Lord making a reappearance?" I asked making sure my voice was low. 

He stared at me like an animal caught in the headlights of a car. 

"W-why? Why do you ask?" 

I handed him the letter and crossed my arms. 

"My parents sent me this today. I figured since you are a Malfoy, your father would be right by Voldemort's side if he did return." 

Malfoy's eyes scanned the words on the paper multiple times. Something about his face made me think he knew a lot more than he would let on. 

"I don't know," he stated. 

"What do you mean you don't know? Does it sound like he's coming back? Because if so, we need to tell someone." 

He looked at me sternly and pressed his lips into a thin line. As if he was biting back a thousand words. 

"Look, Grey. I know you think the right thing to do would be to tell someone, but you can't. If Dumbledore found out, then the Ministry would find out and our families would get into serious trouble." 

"But this could destroy the wizarding world, not to mention Voldemort would be out to kill Harry Potter." 

"Our parents would kill one another if it meant they got to stand by Voldemort in a time like this. I don't care if you want to try to save Harry Potter or whatever. Sorry you didn't get sorted into Gryffindor." 

"Why would you think I'd want to be sorted into Gryffindor?! Is it so bad I don't want our fellow classmate to die?" 

"Sometimes you have to think about yourself before others. That's how you survive. That's how we survive as the outcasts of Hogwarts!" 

Malfoy stopped himself from going on and shoved my letter back in my hand. He put his hands on his hips, clearly worked up from this conversation. 

"Just don't tell Dumbledore, okay?" 

"Fine." 

Malfoy glared at me one last time before leaving for his dorm. He was right. Our families have always been against each other when it comes to kissing Voldemort's ass. They're famous death eaters, what can I say? I agree that Dumbledore shouldn't know, so I won't tell him. But that doesn't mean another professor shouldn't know...

_

Monday morning during Potions Malfoy kept staring at me. I knew he knew I was going to tell Snape about my letter. I tried to ignore him, but his eyes are so hypnotizing- and not in a good way. You feel so small under their stare. 

After the bell rang to dismiss us to our next class, I said goodbye to Blaise headed straight for Snape's desk. 

"Professor, I was wondering if you had a minute?" I asked him. 

He looked up at me with his blank expression and simply asked, "Why?".

"Well I received a letter from my parents yesterday and-"

But before I could go on, Malfoy came up behind me and hurriedly informed Snape that a student had fallen off the stairs and hurt themselves. I knew it wasn't true because Malfoy would never care about someone else enough to tell a teacher if they'd hurt themselves. He'd simply laugh and walk away. 

Snape looked at Malfoy and stormed off to find the apparently injured student. I glared at the boy next to me who had a sly grin plastered across his face and stomped away towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. 

When it came lunch time I found Blaise and Pansy and took a seat next to them. They were deep in conversation about who knows what, but it looked like Pansy was really trying to get her point across. I could tell because she was talking with her hands and her eyebrows were raised. I laughed to myself and started eating. 

Suddenly I felt a warm hand softly rest on my shoulder. I turned around and I could feel my face light up with happiness. Adrian stood behind me smiling. 

"You mind if I sit here?" he asked. 

"Not at all," I answered. 

He sat down next to me and grinned. Whenever he did that my heart felt like it was about to flutter right out of my chest. 

"Look at this," he said holding up his arm. It took a couple seconds to process that he no longer had a splint on his arm. 

"It's better!" 

"Yup, Madame Pomfrey finally said I was all healed."

"That's great! Are you excited to go back to quidditch?" 

"Definitely, expect Flint is making me practice twice as much now." 

"That sucks." 

"Yeah but that's just the price you have to pay to stay on the best quidditch team." 

We laughed and continued eating and talking. In the time between the day we first talked and now, we've hung out a bunch and made out a bunch and I've talked about him to Pansy a bunch. More than I'd like to admit. I really do like him, but I've never been in this situation before. I've never liked someone this much ever. It almost felt too good to be true.

_

I plopped down on to my chair and let out a long sigh. I finally made it to my last class of the day and all I could think about was my bed. If I imagined it hard enough, I could feel my head hitting my pillow and passing out right then and there. I fought my sleepiness but couldn't help my eyes from slowly closing as I daydreamed at the front of the classroom. 

My eyes abruptly opened at the sound of a book being slammed on my desk. I looked around to find the source of the sound and saw the blonde spawn of Satan taking a seat next to me. 

"Whoops, didn't mean to wake you," he said sarcastically. 

I only had the energy to glare at him before laying my head down. At that moment, Malfoy opened his Transfiguration book oh so loudly and rummaged through his bag. 

"Why are you so tired?" he asked, obviously just wanting to get a reaction out of me. 

"You know why I'm so tired. But apparently I'm not allowed to say anything about it," I answered, closing my eyes. 

"Yeah, you're not. You want your parents to end up in Azkaban?" 

"Truthfully, it's all I've ever wanted since I was a child." I opened my eyes to see Malfoy staring at me like I was crazy. I understood how he could think I was crazy. I bet his parents always put him first, do their best to provide for him, actually care about him. Not mine, though. 

Professor McGonagall took her place at the front of the room and began the day's lesson, while I tried my hardest not to fall asleep. A normal fourteen year-old shouldn't have to stay up all night worrying about Voldemort.


	10. Chapter 10

As the air gradually got colder, the more us students worried about work and desperately waiting to go home for the holidays. I, however, showed no interest in going home. Since I'm a Slytherin and Hogwarts doesn't necessarily have a history of love for me, I feel like I shouldn't be mentioning the fact that I'm sad to leave. I know I'll be returning when term resumes, but I think I'll be homesick while I'm gone. It's not the school that I'll be homesick for, but the people that made it home. 

These thoughts circled my head daily, but I soon realized I wouldn't have to worry about leaving this year. One day, Professor Snape called for a house meeting where he explained we would be hosting something called the 'Yule Ball'. 

"Any questions?" he asked after informing us. 

A student raised their hand and asked, "What exactly is the Yule Ball?" 

Professor Snape stood up straight and put his hands behind his back. He strutted out to the middle of the room, looking for everyone's attention. 

"The Yule Ball is a formal dance. You will be on your best behavior, considering Hogwarts is hosting this momentous event. That being said, you will also be dressed as nicely as possible, you will be expected to bring a partner, and you will participate in a waltz when the Yule Ball begins. That is why we have gathered here today- us Professors have been asked to teach you this waltz to prepare you." 

"He makes it sound like we're going into battle," I whispered to Pansy, making us laugh. Snape shot me a glare before continuing. 

"Now, everyone find a partner. We must start practice soon, as the Yule Ball will be held on Christmas Day." 

We all stood awkwardly, looking around the room for a partner. The girls awaited nervously for any boy to ask them to dance, but the boys wouldn't budge. Not until one boy in particular made the first move towards a girl. That boy being Adrian and that girl being me. 

"Would you care to join me in this dance?" he asked me, holding his hand out and grinning. 

I pretended to curtsy in my make-believe ball gown and reached out for his hand. "Why, it would be an honor," I said in an over-exaggerated posh accent. 

Adrian led me to the middle of the room while more and more people followed. Besides during a Quidditch game, this was probably the most united I've ever seen my fellow Slytherins. 

My gaze stopped on Blaise and Pansy standing next to each other, avoiding eye contact and twirling their thumbs. Blaise saw me and pleaded for help. I mouthed 'ask her' and waited for something, anything to happen. I couldn't hear what was being said, but Blaise turned to Pansy weirdly and Pansy said something that looked like 'yeah, sure' and they found a spot next to Adrian and I. 

"Mr. Malfoy, do you have a partner?" Snape asked Malfoy, who was still sitting in his chair. Malfoy opened his mouth to say something but Snape interrupted him. 

"Perfect, neither does Ms. Bulstrode," he said, motioning for the two to pair up. 

"Hah!" I accidentally started to laugh before slapping my hand over my mouth. Millicent Bulstrode is absolutely vile! During my first week, I was studying in the common room where she happened to fall asleep and I soon learned she snores like a bear. She heard me chuckling to myself and woke up pissed. She told me if I ever spoke of it to anyone, she'd personally hex me and make my life a living hell. 

"Cass, don't be rude," Adrian said, trying to contain his laughter along with Blaise. Pansy and I were already laughing enough to the point where no sound was coming out, so no one could hear us anyway. 

"Please, that girl is ugly inside and out!" Pansy said, making me laugh even harder. 

Apparently someone did hear us because next thing I knew, Pansy and I were being smacked upside the head by Snape. It was a habit of his to do so when we irritated him. I got myself together and managed to get a glimpse of Malfoy scrunching up his nose in disgust as he gripped Millicent's waist and took her hand. Oh, how I love karma. 

Professor Snape prepared a vinyl that played an upbeat waltz and began walking us through the dance. It was a little confusing at first, but we ended up getting it in the end. Some students asked Snape to dance as a demonstration, but he refused. What a sight it would have been to see Professor Snape waltz. 

We practiced for about an hour before we were able to go. After that, all anyone could think of was the ball. Everyone worried about finding a date, not wanting to show up alone. Adrian found me one day just to confirm we were going together, in which I said 'yes'. I assumed he knew we were going together, but he told me he found out other guys were asking me. It was true- some guy from Durmstrang asked me, a guy in Ravenclaw, and Flint. When I told him Flint asked me, he got pretty visibly upset which I found kind of hot. 

_

Me, Blaise, and Malfoy sat in Potions taking notes and making small talk. 

"Did Adrian ask you to the dance?" Blaise asked me. 

"Kind of. He heard that some other guys asked me, so just wanted to make sure we were still a thing." 

"Are you guys still a thing?" 

"Of course, I think he just got a bit jealous." 

"So who else asked you?" 

"A couple guys I don't really know- and get this: Flint asked me!" 

"Flint?! That's brilliant!" Blaise said, laughing. 

"I know, right!" I said, beginning to laugh with him. 

"What about you, Malfoy?" Blaise asked. 

The white-haired boy looked up from his book and shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno. I'll find someone soon. Who wouldn't want to go to a ball with Draco Malfoy?" 

"I can name a few people..." I said under my breath. 

"What was that, Grey?" he snapped. 

"Don't worry about it, Snow White," I snapped back. 

Blaise stifled his laughter next to me and kept his head down. 

"What about you, Chuckles?" Malfoy said to Blaise. 

"I think you should ask Pansy. It's a no-brainer!" I chimed in. 

"I don't know... I don't want it to be weird, you know?" Blaise said. 

"Then ask her to go as friends. It's better than going alone."

"Yeah, grow a pair," Malfoy said from across the table. 

"Pipe down, you don't even know who you're taking," I said, making him roll his eyes and go back to his work. 

After Potions, I found Hermione on her way to Dark Arts. We usually walk to that class together, but sometimes she gets there before me because she doesn't want to risk being late. 

"Hey, Hermione," I said, catching up to her. 

"Oh, hey Cass," she said. 

"You got a date for the ball yet?" I asked. 

She looked at me like she had a million things to say, but instead she just smiled and nodded. "I do. What about you?" 

"Yup, Adrian and I are going together. Who are you going with?" 

"If I tell you, will you promise not to tell anyone?" 

"Promise." 

Hermione usually trusted me with secrets since she knew I had no one to tell. I didn't talk to any Gryffindors besides her, and I didn't actually like most of the Slytherins in my class. 

"Okay... Viktor Krum asked me," she said, holding in a grin. 

"No way! What did you say?" 

"I said 'yes' because Ron wouldn't- well never mind that. I said yes!" 

"Wow, Mione. You know every girl will be in awe when they see you two at the ball together." 

Hermione just clenched her books and looked straight forward as if she didn't hear what I'd said. 

_

A couple days later I was sitting in the common room when Pansy comes running up to me with two boxes in her hands. 

"Okay, so I was in the owlery waiting for my mum to send me my dress for the ball and I saw this waiting for you." 

Pansy shoved one of the boxes in my face with a huge smile plastered across her face. I assumed it was my dress, so I smiled back and took the box. 

"I didn't think you would be so giddy about the ball," I told Pansy. 

"If you tell anyone, I swear to-" 

"Don't worry!" I said laughing. "I won't tell anyone. Let's open yours first." 

Pansy nodded excitedly and took a seat next to me. She opened up the box and folded up inside was a long, satin, dark green dress. Pansy held the dress up to her with the girliest grin I'd ever seen. 

"That's beautiful, Pansy," I said. 

"Isn't it? I told my mum not to get anything green because it would be cliché, but I guess I shouldn't underestimate her, should I?" 

I then realized I hadn't even said anything to my mother about the ball. I didn't tell her what kind of dress I wanted or when I'd need it. I started to wonder how she found out. 

"Let's open yours!" Pansy said, snapping me out of my thoughts. 

I slowly took the lid off the box, cautious of what kind of horrid dress my mother must have sent. I only saw folded black fabric until I took the whole dress out of the box. It wasn't horrid at all, to my surprise. The sleeves were long, off the shoulder, and lacey. There was some floral pattern embroidered in them along with the top half of the dress. The skirt of the dress was long with a slit going down the left leg. 

"Wow," Pansy commented, staring at the dress. 

"Yeah...", was all I could manage to say. The dress was absolutely stunning. I definitely was not expecting this from my mother. I looked in the box again and saw a card at the bottom. It read: 

Dear Cassiopeia, 

In regards to the last letter you sent, you will find out more soon- very soon. Anyway, this dress is mine from when I was younger but I figured it would look beautiful on you for the Yule Ball. The Yule Ball that you didn't bother to tell me about. I had to hear about it from Narcissa Malfoy! Have you gotten to know Draco Malfoy? Maybe consider going with him to the ball? Hope the dress fits. 

Sincerely,  
Mum

"Did your mum send you a letter?" Pansy asked. 

"Um... yeah. Yeah, she did." I couldn't even focus on anything but the words written on the paper still in my hand. 

"You okay?" Pansy asked again. 

"Uh-huh." 

I was not okay. First, my mother tells me I will know very soon more information about what the last letter was about. The one about Voldemort. Now, she's speaking to the Malfoys and trying to set me up with Snow White?! I remember my parents warning me to stay away from the Malfoys before I left for Hogwarts, so why now are they acquaintances?


	11. Chapter 11

The weeks leading up to the Yule Ball were terribly hectic. We practiced our waltz with Snape at least three times a week, had to help decorate the Great Hall, and some people didn't even have dates yet. Two of those people being Blaise and Pansy. Backside still hadn't worked up the courage to ask Pansy. 

The day of the ball, however, was probably the most hectic. 

"Cass, I'm going to be the only person there without a date! You realize how embarrassing that is, don't you? Ugh, I'm so stupid for thinking Blaise was going to ask me. No, you know what, he's stupid for not asking me! He doesn't know what he's missing!" 

All day I had to hear about how Pansy didn't have a date for the ball. Now we were sat at lunch and she was still complaining. She hadn't even touched her food yet because all she was doing was talking. I spotted Fleur looking for a place to sit and waved her over. 

"Hey, Cass," she said, taking a seat next to me. 

"Hey. You ready for tonight?" I asked. 

"Definitely. Oh, all the Beauxbatons girls are getting ready together and I was wondering if you two wanted to join?" 

"Yeah, that sounds fun! Doesn't it, Pansy?" 

Pansy looked between me and Fleur with her nose scrunched up. 

"Yeah, except all the Beauxbatons girls are pretty and have dates. I was hoping to wallow in my self-pity before the ball," she said. 

Fleur looked at me confused out of her mind.

"Actually, thank you for the offer, but I think we're just going to ready in our dorm," I told Fleur. She nodded and smiled awkwardly. 

"Well, ladies, I'm going to go get a head start on my wallowing. See you later," Pansy said, getting up and leaving. Fleur and I waved until she was out of sight. 

"What's up with her?" Fleur asked, chuckling. 

"She doesn't have a date yet. Speaking of which, who's your date?" 

"Roger Davies, a Ravenclaw. Did you know he's the captain of his Quidditch team?" 

"I did know that." 

I'd never met Roger Davies, but I'd seen him around school and heard people talk about him sometimes. He and Cho Chang are, like, besties so I was a little surprised they weren't going together. Cho Chang was going to the ball with Cedric Diggory. Hermione told me Harry was a little upset since he asked her, but she turned him down. Apparently Harry asked Padma Patil to the ball last minute. 

"Anyway, I have to get going. Rita Skeeter wants to interview us more before the ball," Fleur said. 

"Alright, well I'll see you tonight," I said, smiling at Fleur as she walked away. 

I decided this would be a good time to find Blaise and get him to ask Pansy to the ball. Not only could I not stand seeing Pansy upset, I could not stand listening to her bicker anymore. 

I made my way to the Slytherin common room and didn't find him there. I did find Pansy sitting by the fireplace reading a book, so I had to try to avoid her as I snuck into the boy's dorms. I pounded on the door of Blaise's dorm until he answered me. 

"Merlin's beard, Cass, you're gonna punch a hole in my door!" Blaise said, standing in the doorway of his room. I pushed my way into his dorm and stood in the middle of the floor with my arms crossed. 

"Why haven't you asked Pansy to the ball yet? She's getting really annoying, griping about how she doesn't have a date. She really thought you were going to ask her! And I did too!" 

Blaise sighed and looked at the floor. "I really wanted to but-" 

"But what? You asked someone else?" 

"No, but-" 

"Someone else asked you?" 

"No-"

"Then why didn't you ask her?! She's sitting in the common room right now, and if you don't go find her in the next five minutes I'm going to set her up with someone else!" 

With that, I stomped out out of room, but not before I turned around to the sound of Blaise calling out my name. I looked at him, waiting for him to say something. 

"Thanks," he muttered, barely audible. 

I grinned and left for the common room. I understood why Blaise hadn't asked Pansy to the ball- Blaise is pretty shy and quiet. Pansy is very much the opposite. It's kind of why they're perfect for each other. Opposites attract, don't they?

I found Pansy and took a seat next to her. She nodded a 'hello' to me and went back to reading her book. I looked around for Blaise, but something else caught my eye. Malfoy and some girl I didn't recognize were sat in the corner of the common room giggling and being super touchy with each other. 

"Who's that?" I asked Pansy, motioning to the two. 

"Some girl from Beauxbatons. Apparently she's Malfoy's date to the ball. Can you believe that? Malfoy has a date and I don't?" 

I found it weird that she was from Beauxbatons, yet I didn't recognize her. To be fair, I didn't really pay attention to most of the girls in that school.

Just then, Blaise emerged from the boy's dorms. I tried to wave to him discreetly, but I was too excited to be discreet. He eventually saw us and walked over. I reassumed my position next to Pansy and pretended like nothing happened. 

"Mind if I sit here?" Blaise asked. 

"Oh, hey Blaise! Didn't see 'ya there! Yeah take seat, what's up?" I responded. Hopefully I wasn't being suspicious. 

Blaise sat down across from us and nervously rested his elbows on his knees and leaned towards Pansy, who just pretended not to notice and kept her nose in her book. 

"Uh... Pansy?" He began. 

Pansy peeked over the top of her book and raised an eyebrow, meaning she was listening. 

"Since neither of us have a date and the ball is tonight... I was just wondering if, you know, you wanted to go together- I mean as friends! You know? It's-it's better than going alone, right?" Blaise chuckled awkwardly. 

Pansy furrowed her eyebrows and set her book down on her lap. I kept glancing between them both, waiting for one of them to say something. It felt like I was watching a muggle soap opera. 

"I suppose so," Pansy finally said. 

Blaise let out a sigh of relief and quickly jumped up. "Great! I mean- yeah, cool. Cool..." He glanced around, grinned at Pansy and I, and scurried back to his dorm. 

When Blaise was out of sight, Pansy and I whipped our heads toward each other squealed from excitement. She was good at keeping her cool, but when she let it out, she let I all out. She was squealing so much, Malfoy and his Beauxbatons date glared at us from the other side of the common room. 

"Could you two shut up?" Malfoy hollered. 

I flipped him the bird, taking him a back, and turned back to Pansy. 

"Let's go start getting ready!" I said.

_

Pansy and I spent hours getting ready, making sure we looked perfect. We did our hair and makeup while listening to muggle rock bands. Soon into our friendship, the two of us learned we both love muggle music so whenever we hung out, that's what we listened to. 

After we were done getting ready we made our way to the Great Hall, arms linked together. When we left the dungeons, we stopped to look out one of the windows of the castle. It was so beautiful outside: the stars were out, there were mountains of soft snow everywhere, and I couldn't help but watch every snowflake fall from the sky until it hit the ground. 

Before we got to the Great Hall we went into one of the bathrooms to check how we looked one last time. I scanned myself up and down, looked at myself from the back, made sure my makeup was good. My hands ran down my dress, getting out any wrinkles. My dress hugged my waist so nicely. I couldn't remember the last time I felt that pretty. 

"We look so fucking hot," Pansy said, causing us to burst out in laughter. 

Right outside the Great Hall, people gathered in groups to talk before the ball started. It was weird seeing everyone in ball gowns and dressing robes. A couple girls I didn't know stopped to talk to Pansy, so I took a peek into the Great Hall. It looked magnificent. It looked like a winter wonderland. There were sparkly icicles hanging from the ceiling, beautiful white lights everywhere, and three Christmas trees with snow on them stood at the front of the room. 

"It's so pretty!" I heard Pansy say, snapping me out of my thoughts. 

"Right?" I said, turning to face her. The two girls were gone, so we made our way into the Great Hall. We greeted a few people on our way in, complimenting some girls on their dresses, other girls complimenting us on ours. We looked around for Blaise and eventually found him with Theodore by the drink table. 

As Pansy and I greeted the two, I noticed how Blaise just stared at Pansy. Pansy noticed it too because in the midst of the awkward silence, she kept glancing over at me. I guess I was the one who would have to be breaking the awkward the silence for the night. 

"Um... Blaise, you look great. Doesn't he look great Pansy?" I said, nudging Pansy. 

She nodded. "Yeah! You look great."

"Uh- thank you. You look great too..." Blaise said, trying his best to keep eye contact with Pansy. 

Pansy blushed a little and looked at the floor. "Thank you..." muttered. 

Now that that was over, the four of us started talking normally. Theodore's date showed up, so they went off together. Pansy and Blaise were talking when I realized my date was nowhere to be found. I scanned the room, looking for the tall dark-haired boy I was so familiar with. Instead, my gaze landed on a boy with hair as soft and white as the snow on the ground that night and skin as pale as the moon. His gaze intertwined with mine. His blue eyes pierced into my soul as if they were one of the icicles hanging from the ceiling. It seemed as though time had stopped around us. It was like we were the only people in the room. I forgot where I was, who I was with, what I was looking for. All I could focus on was Draco Malfoy. 

"Cass," said a deep voice behind me. 

I broke away from Malfoy's gaze to see Adrian smiling down at me. Before giving my attention to Adrian I looked back to where Malfoy was, but he was already gone. I wondered if I had imagined him. I turned back to Adrian and smiled. 

"There you are! I was looking for you," I said. 

"Sorry, I was a little late. You look wonderful!" Adrian chuckled awkwardly, making me grin. 

"Thank you. You do too." 

Just then, the doors of the Great Hall opened and out walked the Tri-Wizard Champions and their dates. The room erupted in applause as the pairs made their way to the middle of the dance floor. Fleur and Hermione looked stunning. As they walked past me, I waved, getting each of them to wave back. When they reached the dance floor, the waltz began. Soon, professors joined in, and eventually the students did too. Adrian took my hand and led me to the dance floor and we spun around to the music, recounting the steps Snape had been teaching us for weeks. I was surprised to see Pansy and Blaise dancing right next to us, but it made me happy. They surely looked happy. Everyone looked happy. 

The nice classical tune didn't last long, as the band that was invited grew bored of it and took matters into their own hands. They started playing an upbeat rock song, causing everyone to loosen up and really start dancing. The crowd started jumping up and down, dancing wildly. I even saw Professor Flitwick being carried over the crowd. I pointed it out to Adrian and we threw our heads back in laughter as we kept dancing. I don't think I'd ever danced that much in my life. 

After a couple more songs, Adrian and Blaise left to get drinks for Pansy and I. We found an open table and sat down, exhausted. 

"Having fun?" I asked her. 

"I actually am. It's not weird like I thought it was going to be. It's just like any other time we hang out. How about you?" 

I nodded my head. "Yeah. Although it's been a lot of dancing rather than talking, hasn't it?" 

"At least he's a good dancer," Pansy said, shrugging her shoulders. I smiled at her and looked around the room. I saw Hermione and Viktor Krum dancing together, Harry and Ron sulking alone, and Fleur and Roger Davies having a laugh. 

"I'm going to bathroom, want to come?" I asked Pansy, standing up from my chair. 

She shook her head. "No thanks, I see Blaise coming back with our drinks. Apparently the Weasley twins spiked the punch bowl, so this should fun." She pointed towards Blaise, who was carrying two cups of punch in his hands. 

I left the two of them alone and made my way out of the Great Hall. Before I could make it to a bathroom, I had to stop and sit down on one of the benches in the hallway. My feet were killing me, so I took off my pair of black heels. I rubbed the soles of my feet and rested my head on the wall behind me, letting my eyes close. I suddenly got this feeling that I was being watched. I slowly opened my eyes to see Malfoy standing in front me in his expensive dressing robes, hands in his pockets. 

"What do you want, Malfoy?" I said, putting my shoes back on. 

He took a step towards me. "Well... I left my date to get some fresh air a couple minutes ago, but apparently she's taken an interest in someone else." 

"What are you talking about?" 

"Just come with me..." 

I eyed him suspiciously but he kept urging me to follow him. I sighed and followed him back to the entrance of the Great Hall. I looked around the room, clueless as to what he wanted me to follow him for. 

Then I saw it. Both our dates mingling in the corner, giggling together flirtatiously. Malfoy's date put her hand on Adrian's chest and tugged at his tie, making him bite his lip and whisper something in her ear. Adrian caught me staring and his face dropped. 

I forced myself to stop watching and looked at Malfoy hopelessly. He didn't look at me, only the floor. I stomped away into the cold winter air, the snow freezing my feet. Malfoy followed me and awkwardly stood in front of me. 

"I just thought you should know..." he said. 

I nodded and crossed my arms. I was grateful to him for telling me, but I didn't want him to know that. Pansy hurried outside with Blaise right behind her. 

"What's wrong?" she asked me. "We saw you two storm out." 

"Apparently our dates have taken quite a liking to each other," I said. Pansy looked at Malfoy, who slowly nodded his head, and came over to console me. Expect I wasn't sad, like I didn't want to cry or anything. I would never cry over a boy. I was just mad. I was mad that I put my trust into someone and it blew up in my face, like it always does. 

Then, Adrian appeared. "Please Cass, just listen to me-" 

Blaise stepped in front of him and interrupted him before he could keep talking. "I think you should go," he said. 

Adrian walked away, frustrated. As he turned the corner, heading back into the castle, I bunched up a handful of snow and threw it in his direction. The snowball hit the wall, but the impact wasn't good enough for me. I made another snowball and threw it in Adrian's direction again. I kept doing that until Malfoy stepped into my line of fire, making me accidentally hit him. I covered my mouth with my hands, shocked. 

"Why did you hit me?!" He said. 

"Why did you step in front of me?!" I asked him. 

"I was trying to stop you!" 

I suddenly wasn't mad anymore. I burst out in laughter and pointed at Malfoy, who was still stood in front of me, offended. 

"Fine!" He said. "You know what?" 

He picked up some snow off the ground and made it into a ball and threw it at me, making me stop laughing. I made another snowball and got ready to throw it at Malfoy, but Pansy beat me to it. I laughed and threw my snowball at Pansy, officially starting a snowball fight amongst the four of us. Blaise tried to stay out of it at first, but Pansy kept throwing snowballs at him and he gave in. 

Our laughter filled the air as snowballs were being tossed every which way. All our worries faded. It felt like we were little kids. But in reality we stood there in our ball gowns and fancy dressing robes, throwing snowballs at each other, shouting in victory when we hit someone. That's how we spent the rest of the night, until we felt like we were going to freeze to death. It wasn't a bad way to end the ball, if you ask me.


	12. Chapter 12

After the ball, I found myself closer than ever to Pansy, Blaise and Malfoy. We would hang out all the time, eat lunch together, sneak out to the Astronomy Tower at night, you name it. It was weird actually being able to talk to Malfoy without either of us belittling the other. I think since we both went through the same thing at the Yule Ball, we were starting to understand each other more. 

I haven't spoken to Adrian since the ball. He tries to talk to me, but I never stick around long enough to hear what he has to say. It's not like we were exclusive or anything, but I really thought he liked me. Enough to limit himself to one girl, that is. I wasn't super hung up on him. I figured if he was that slimy in the beginning, why would he be any different later on? I've never been about second chances. 

In a couple weeks the second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament would take place. Me, Blaise, and Malfoy stood at our table in Potions trying to master a laughing potion Professor Snape instructed us to make. 

"So what's the next task going to be, Cass?" Blaise asked. 

"Why would I know?" 

"Aren't you and Fleur friends? She didn't tell you?"

"Last time I spoke to Fleur, she was still trying to understand what her egg was telling her." 

"The egg speaks?" Draco said from the other side of the table. 

"Well, not really. Fleur said it screams."

"Screams?" 

"Yeah, like when she opens it all she hears is screaming." 

"Sounds terrifying," Blaise said.

Professor Snape made his way to our table and looked into our cauldron, raising an eyebrow. 

"What is this...?" he asked. 

I looked up at him and slowly shrugged my shoulders. "Laughing potion?" I said hopefully. 

"That may as well be an instant death potion, Ms. Grey... I expect less chatting and more concentration from you three..." 

With that, Snape walked away to another table of students to ridicule. 

"Man, he's always cranky," I complained. 

"Yeah, but at least he doesn't hate us," Blaise said. 

"I don't think he's that bad," Malfoy chimed in. 

"Of course you don't," I said. "You two have so much in common- you both hate the world." 

Blaise and I laughed, making Malfoy grin. He wasn't much of a laugher. He only really smiled if he was happy or amused. 

After Potions, I met Hermione in the hall on her way to Dark Arts. We started talking and I decided to ask if Harry knew what the next task would be. 

"So has Harry figured out his egg yet?" 

Hermione rolled her eyes. "No, he hasn't. I've been pressing him to figure it out, but he has absolutely no idea. What about Fleur?" 

"Not since the last time I spoke to her." 

When we got to our next class, I sat down in my usual seat next to Pansy. She was writing something down in a notebook and when I leaned over to see what, she yanked the book away from me. 

"What's that?" I asked. 

"None of your business," she said matter-of-factly. 

I grinned. "Oh, so you're keeping secrets from me?" 

"No!" People's heads turned toward us, so Pansy pretended it wasn't her and whispered, "No, I just don't want you to see it..." 

"Well what even is it?" I whispered back. 

"It's... ugh it's my diary, Cass. There, you happy? I keep a diary!" 

I couldn't help but laugh. Anything Pansy did that was considered girly or remotely cliché for a teenage girl, she wanted it to be kept a secret. She'd told me she never really had any girl-friends before me. Since she's been used to spending her time with boys, poor thing, she wouldn't want them to find out she actually had feelings and stuff. 

"You're really laughing at me?!" 

"No! It's just... it's okay to keep a diary, Pansy. I won't tell anyone, though. I promise." 

Pansy smirked and closed her diary. "Thanks," she said, shoving the notebook in her bag. 

_

During lunch, Fleur excitedly ran over to me and took a seat right next to me. 

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"I figured out my egg!" I said, trying to keep her voice down. 

"Really? Well what did you find out?" 

"Well, it's a weird story. But I was taking a walk by the water with Roger and I accidentally dropped the egg into the water. I realized it had opened it up on its own, but when I reached for it, I heard singing coming from it." 

"Singing?" I asked, just to make sure I was hearing this correctly. 

Fleur nodded and grabbed my by the shoulders. "Singing! Anyways, I couldn't hear it all that well so I stuck my head under the water. Roger probably thought I was insane. But the singing was from merpeople, and there are merpeople in the Black Lake! And since the egg was underwater, I figured the task will revolve around being underwater!" 

"So you'll be underwater in the Black Lake? You're gonna need to find a way to breath while you're down there," I said. 

"You're right! Thank you, Cass- I'll talk to you when I figure it out!" 

Fleur ran off to who knows where and I was left by myself to finish my lunch. Of course Fleur figured out her egg on accident. She has that type of luck. 

I began to wonder if I should tell Hermione about the task. I knew deep down Hermione would do it for me, but at the end of the day, Fleur is one of my best friends and I barely know Harry. To me, he's the competition in this tournament. 

_

It was now February 23rd, the day before the second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. I haven't mentioned anything about the egg to Hermione so far and she hasn't mentioned anything to me. The final bell of the day had just rung, so I made my way to the common room to get some work done. On my way there, I bumped into a very familiar blonde boy. 

"Hello, Grey," he said, walking next to me. 

"Hello, Malfoy. What're you up to?" 

"I've just acquired a shitload of snacks and booze and I'm on my way to my dorm. Would you like to join me?" 

I was a little speechless. Was Malfoy actually asking me to hang out with him? 

"Well, I was going to finish up some homework in the common room... but... I guess I can do it later. Snacks and booze sounds pretty good right now," I said. 

Malfoy smirked at me and we walked together to his dorm. While walking through the Slytherin common room, I received some glares from a few different girls. I guessed that they weren't too happy to see me going into Draco Malfoy's dorm room. What was important was that I knew nothing like that was going to happen, even if they didn't. 

Malfoy's dorm was exactly the same as it was the last time I was there. The last time being when Pansy and I hung out with the Quidditch team after Adrian sprained his arm. 

I set my bag down on the floor and made myself comfortable on Malfoy's huge bed. 

"Okay, I have to ask- how did you manage to get your own dorm?" I asked. 

Malfoy looked at me, taking off his robes and loosening his tie. "Well, I was an eleven year-old brat and begged my dad. He managed to pull some strings by donating a bunch of money to the school," Malfoy answered, using hand quotations around the word 'donating'. 

"So you wouldn't call it a donation?" 

"Not at all. It was a bribe. My father's good at bribing his way into things." 

Malfoy handed me a drink I didn't even realize he'd poured, then he emptied out a bag of snacks onto the bed and laid down at the foot of it. I sat up and opened a bag of crisps. 

"So what's your family like?" Malfoy asked me. 

"It's just me and my parents, but sometimes it's like I'm not even there. I think the only reason they had me was so I could keep the bloodline going on." 

Malfoy and I laughed together. 

Malfoy was laughing. 

I stopped laughing when I realized he was laughing. 

"You're laughing..." I said, not expecting him to hear me. 

He looked at me like he wasn't sure what to say. "Well yeah I'm laughing... it was funny. It was a joke, right?" 

I snapped back to reality. "Oh- yeah, yeah it was a joke. I-I've just never heard you laugh before..." 

I could tell he was taken aback by what I said. 

Suddenly he started laughing even more. "Of course I laugh! I'm not some emotionless monster!" 

I began to laugh too, now that I knew he wasn't offended or anything. "Well, I didn't know you aren't always dark and twisty!" 

"There's a lot you don't know about me," he said, taking a sip of his drink. 

"Really? What's one thing nobody knows about you?" I asked. 

He looked at me for a moment, hesitant to answer, but blurted out: "I hate being called 'Malfoy'". He stared at me and cracked a smile. "I hate my last name," he elaborated. "Firstly, it sounds ridiculous, but it's mostly because I don't want to just be known for my last name, you know?" 

I nodded and smiled back. "I get it. I hate my first name. Whenever someone says it, all I can hear is my mother’s voice ridiculing me. So I prefer to go by 'Cass', not just because it's easier to say, but because it's easier for me to hear." 

"I guess we have more in common than we thought, Cass."

"I guess we do, Draco." 

We spent the night talking and getting to know each other more. I found out Draco's favorite band is Nirvana, which also happens to be mine. We talked about classes, gossiped about students and teachers, and had some deep conversations about our families. Our families and childhoods were very similar, to my surprise. 

In the middle of me trying to throw a piece of popcorn into Draco's mouth, Blaise burst through the door. 

"Draco, have you seen-" he began, before stopping and staring at the sight of me in Draco's dorm. "Um, Cass, I've been looking for you. Professor McGonagall wants to see you in her office." 

"Oh, okay... Do you know what for?" I asked Blaise. He shook his head, still staring at us. I reluctantly stood up from Draco's bed, him following, and picked up my bag. "Well, this was fun," I said awkwardly. 

Draco nodded. "Yeah it was. Well I guess I'll just see you later, then?" 

"Definitely." 

Draco and I waved goodbye to each other and Blaise led me out to the common room. 

"What was that?" he asked. 

"What do you mean?" 

"What were you two doing in there?" 

"We were just hanging out!" 

Blaise furrowed his eyebrows and looked at me sternly. 

"Look I have to go, I don't have time to be interrogated by you," I said, leaving the common room and leaving Blaise standing there, arms crossed. 

I thought of Blaise like a brother and I knew he thought of me like a sister so, to me, it was comforting when he'd worry. Growing up as an only child can get lonely. I've never had a brotherly figure in my life, so Blaise was the one person who could worry about me in that way.


	13. Chapter 13

I walked into McGonagall's office, not expecting to see Hermione, Ron, and Cho there too. They stood there silently as McGonagall gave me a smile. 

"Hello, Ms. Grey," she said. 

"Hi," I started. "You asked to see me, Professor?" 

"I did. You're very close with Ms. Delacour from Beauxbatons, correct?" 

I nodded. "Might I ask why?" 

"Well in the upcoming task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, each champion must navigate their way through the Black Lake and retrieve something of importance to them. Or someone, I should say." 

I looked at Hermione, who slightly shrugged. 

I scoffed, wondering if I was hearing her correctly. "So, you want us to go to the bottom of the Black Lake? Can't we die from, you know, drowning?" 

McGonagall shook her head. "Not at all. You will be put under an enchanted sleep." She knew she wasn't getting anywhere with me, so she took a step forward and looked into my eyes. "I already asked Ms. Delacour's younger sister, but she insisted she wouldn't do it. When I asked her who else would do it, your name came up. She spoke very highly of you, Cassiopeia..." 

I winced at the thought of poor Gabrielle having to be put to sleep and thrown into the Black Lake just for a tournament. She truly was the sweetest girl I've ever met. 

"Did you all agree to this?" I asked the other students. They nodded their heads in response. I sighed, expecting at least one of them to say they didn't. "Alright... I'll do it." 

McGonagall had us line up before she put us under a sleeping charm. I made sure to get at the end of the line so that I was the last to go. When she performed the spell on Hermione, Ron, and Cho, they immediately fell to the floor. For a moment it was as if they'd died, but I had to remind myself they were peacefully asleep. 

Eventually it was my turn. McGonagall performed the spell and I instantly felt so fatigued. My eyelids were closing on their own, so my body instinctively tried to fight the slumber. The charm was too powerful, however. My eyes finally shut and I fell to the floor. I don't remember anything else besides waking up in arms that did not belong to Fleur.

_

I simply cannot explain the feeling of going to sleep and waking up in the middle of a lake. It didn't feel like I was asleep for a long time. One moment I'd just passed out in McGonagall's office, and the next moment I was gasping for air, soaking wet. It took me a while to notice that Fleur was nowhere to be seen. 

While I was trying to understand my surroundings and stay afloat, the only person around me was Ron. I looked around for Fleur, but Ron was already guiding me to the stands. We kicked up water, making our way to safety. Fleur reached out for me at the bottom of the stands, hurrying me to climb up from the water. Ron let me climb up the stands first, him following closely behind. Fleur immediately wrapped her arms around me and cupped my face in her hands. She muttered something to herself in French and looked at me with tearful eyes.

"Holy shit..." I said to myself as a gust of cold air hit me. My wet uniform weighed me down as I tried to make my way to where the other students were huddled. Pansy and Blaise rushed over to me and bundled me up with towels. 

"Are you okay?" Pansy asked, obviously very worried. 

"No!" I said in between coughing fits. "I'm fucking freezing and my chest feels like it's filled with water!"

"Here", Draco, who was now standing right in front of me, said handing me a dressing robe. I put it on and nodded a 'thank you' to him. The way he was looking at me was like he was scared. Scared to see me that way. 

I noticed Fleur next to me and she was nearly completely dry. "Who got me out of the water?" I asked her. Just then, Harry flew out of the lake and flopped onto the stands, immediately being showered in praises and warm towels. Did Harry Potter save me? 

Fleur hurried to Harry and started endlessly thanking him, even Ron too. I stood there, speechless, watching Harry cough up water. He didn't have to save me, but he did. He knew the merpeople would go after him, but he risked it anyway. Fleur kissed Harry and Ron on their cheeks and led me away back to Pansy, Blaise, and Draco. 

"What happened?" I asked. 

"I couldn't get past the grindylows... I am so, so sorry..." Fleur said. I could tell she truly felt bad, but I didn't blame her in the slightest. 

"You don't have to apologize, Fleur..." 

She looked at me with compassion and gave me another hug. I hugged her back, making sure she knew she tried her best. My three Slytherin classmates looked as though they didn't want to talk to me or else I might break. I guess I don't blame them since I kind of went off on them when they were only being nice. 

"You guys, I'm fine. You don't have to hold your breath around me," I said, hoping to ease the tension between us all. Each of them sighed in relief and grinned. 

"I guess we know why McGonagall was asking for you last night," Blaise said. 

"I was looking everywhere for you today! Why didn't you tell me you were doing this?!" Pansy asked. I was about to explain how it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, but she spoke before I could say anything. "Nevermind, I'm just glad you're okay!" She brought me into a tight squeeze and I couldn't help but smile at how worried she was. 

Pansy and I broke from our hug and Blaise immediately brought me into another one. Draco and I awkwardly glanced at each other, not sure whether hugging was going to be an option for us. I guess we both decided against it, since the only thing I got from him was a smile and "I'm glad you're okay." 

"Attention!" Dumbledore shouted. "The winner is... Mr. Diggory!" Cedric's friends cheered in support before Dumbledore continued. "Who showed innate command of the Bubble-Head Charm! However, seeing as Mr. Potter would have finished first, had it not been for his determination to rescue not only Mr. Weasley, but Ms. Grey as well, we've agreed to award him second place for outstanding moral fiber!" 

The Hogwarts students cheered and congratulated Harry as the Durmstrang boys vented their frustration with 'boos'. Harry did deserve second place- we was thinking selflessly and heroically. 

We all loaded up onto boats and headed back towards the castle. All I could think about was getting out of my completely soaked clothes. Well, that and thanking Harry. I tried to catch up to him as we climbed out of our boat and onto the dock, but Barty Crouch stopped him to talk and the two of them walked off together. I let it go and followed Pansy, Blaise, and Draco back to the castle. 

_

The first thing I did was take a hot shower and change into comfy clothes, but even then I wasn't warm enough, so Pansy, Blaise, Draco, and I sat in the common room right next to the fireplace and chatted. 

"I can't believe you actually agreed to that!" Pansy said after hearing my short story about what went on in McGonagall's office the night before. 

"I can't believe Harry actually saved you," Blaise added. 

"Me neither. I honestly think he has a death wish or something," I said, making everyone laugh. Draco didn't laugh, though. He just scoffed. 

"What's up with you?" I asked him. 

He shook his head. "I don't think he should have gotten second place..." 

"Why? You were hoping I was going to drown?" I said, raising my eyebrows. 

Draco glared at me and crossed his arms. "He just always ends up winning. You don't think that's fucked up?" 

I was starting to get a little upset. Did he even realize that the reason Harry got second place was because he literally saved my life? 

I leaned towards Draco and stared him in the eyes. "He's Harry Potter, he's always going to win. But have you ever considered it's because he's actually a good person?" 

Draco just rolled his eyes and we all moved past it like we normally do when Draco and I pick fights with each other. It hadn't happened in a while, so Pansy and Blaise were a bit thrown off. Honestly, so was I. 

"Hey, Cass," Theodore said, walking over to us. "Hermione Granger is asking for you." 

"Hermione?" What was she doing here? 

"Yeah she's right outside," Theodore told me, pointing to the entrance of the common room. Pansy looked at me and I shrugged. I got up from my spot on the couch and went to find Hermione. 

She was stood right outside the common room with her arms crossed, tapping her foot on the ground anxiously. 

"There you are! You Slytherins are so stubborn- no one would even let me in!" 

I couldn't help but chuckle at how uptight she could be. "Well the password is 'pureblood', just in case you ever need to get in," I said. "What're you doing here anyway?" 

"I didn't get a chance to speak with you earlier today and we’re about to go to Hagrid's, so I figured I'd ask how you're doing... How are you doing?" 

"I'm fine, what about you? You were down there too." 

"I'm good. Viktor's pretty upset he didn't get second place, though. But I think Harry deserves it, don't you?" 

I nodded. "Has Harry left yet or is he still here?"

"Yeah, last I saw him he was in the common room. Why?" 

"Could you just thank him for me when you get back?" 

"Well why don't you just come with me? Oh, you can see our common room!" 

I wasn't sure I wanted to go. It would feel a little weird for me to be in the Gryffindor common room, but I really wanted to thank Harry. Maybe tell him about the certain letter my mother sent me a while ago. He should know, as it does pertain to killing him. 

I agreed to go back to the Gryffindor common room with Hermione. The walk from the dungeons to the Gryffindor Tower felt like forever, but Hermione just talked most of the way and led me about the castle. When we got to the entrance to the common room, Hermione secretively said the password, making sure I didn't hear, and the door automatically opened. 

The Gryffindor common room had a warm red and orange hue that flowed throughout the whole room. It was smaller than the Slytherin common room, but it was so cozy. Eclectic red furniture sat by the fireplace and random spots around the room. Books were scattered everywhere along with scarves and jackets left by students. 

Harry sat by the fireplace chatting with Ron and Dean Thomas. Hermione led me through the common room towards them. I tried to pretend like I didn't feel the stares from every which direction, but I knew I was being stared at. I was used to being stared at. 

"Hey Mione,” Harry said from the couch.

“Where were you?” Ron asked. 

“I went to the Slytherin common room,” Hermione answered. 

“Why would you want to do that?” Ron said, scrunching up his nose. “You’re lucky those Slytherins didn’t hex you or anything.” 

I emerged from behind Hermione, making Ron freeze in his seat. 

“Yes Hermione,” I said sarcastically. “I am, of course, known for hexing people isn’t that right?” 

Hermione looked at the floor, hiding the grin forming on her face. But it was Harry I heard chuckling right next to Ron. 

“Harry, could I speak with you?” I asked. 

Harry nodded and we found a spot in the corner of the common to sit at. Why was I nervous to be speaking with him? After all, he’s only my classmate. But he’s also ‘The Boy Who Lived’.

“Um, I just wanted to thank you for what you did earlier.” 

Harry shook his head. “Don’t mention it. You really don’t have to thank me.” 

“No, I do. You saved my life.” 

“Anyone would have done it.” 

“That’s the thing, Harry: I really don’t think anyone else would have done it...” 

Harry didn’t say anything. He just looked at me, silent. 

“You’re very humble, you know,” I said, not wanting it to become awkward. 

Harry smiled. “Thanks, I guess.” 

I smiled back until I remembered what else I wanted to tell him. “Since you did save me, it’s only polite to repay you... There’s something I think you should know...” 

“What is it..?” 

I leaned towards Harry, not wanting anyone to hear. “I believe Voldemort is planning his return...” 

Harry’s eyes widened a bit. He sat back in his chair looking full of thoughts. “Why?” he asked. 

“My mother sent me a letter a couple months ago and in it she said she and my father were busy preparing for a friend of theirs to return. I didn’t know exactly what it meant, but right before the ball I got another letter in which my mother said she’d been speaking with Narcissa Malfoy. All my life my parents have hated the Malfoys, but now they’re being friendly with each other?” 

Harry furrowed his brows. “Why are you telling me this? Can’t your parents get in trouble? And Malfoy’s?” 

“Yes. That’s why you can’t tell anyone I told you. I recommend not telling Dumbledore before you have more information. I wouldn’t doubt if he already knows Voldemort is coming back...” 

“I can’t believe you don’t even hesitate to say his name,” Harry said. 

I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s just a name. A stupid name he made up for himself.” 

“Thank you for telling me...” Harry said, standing up from his seat. I nodded and we returned to Hermione and Ron. Dean was now talking to Seamus Finnigan. 

“Bye, Hermione,” I said, resting my hand on her arm. 

“You’re leaving already?” 

“You Gryffindors have a lovely common room, but I should be getting back to mine. My friends would probably hex me if they found out I was with the Golden Trio.” I grinned at Ron, who was avoiding eye contact with me. 

“You’re right. The queen of the Emerald Trio should be leaving,” Hermione said giggling. 

“The what?” I asked. Did I just hear what I think I heard?

“The Emerald Trio. You know, you, Pansy, and Blaise,” Hermione explained. “Sometimes the Emerald Foursome when Malfoy is with you.” 

“Is that what people call us?” 

“Yeah, you didn’t know?” 

I shook my head and smiled, thinking about how my friend group actually had a name. 

“Well, um, I guess I’ll see you guys later.” The three waved goodbye as I left. 

“The Emerald Trio...” I said to myself on my way back to the Slytherin common room. I kind of liked it...


	14. Chapter 14

The next day on my way to Dark Arts, Hermione emerged from a bathroom, making me jump. 

"Hermione! Merlin's beard, you scared the shit out of me!" 

"Sorry. But I had to make sure I found you. What's this about 'you know who' coming back?" 

My shoulders dropped and we started walking to class. I couldn't believe Harry. Well actually I could. If you tell Harry something, you should be prepared for Hermione and Ron to know as well. 

"Ugh, Harry told you?"

"Of course he told me! Why didn't you tell me?" 

"The only person who knows besides you guys is Draco and he told me I shouldn't tell anyone. When I tried to tell Snape, he made sure I didn't even get the chance to bring it up." 

"Why do you care what Malfoy says?" 

"I don't, but he did make a good point. If I told anyone, my parents could end up in Azkaban." 

"I thought you told me you don't even like your parents?" 

"I don't." I stepped in front of Hermione, making her stop in her tracks. "I wouldn't bat an eye if my parents got sent to Azkaban, but can you imagine being known as the girl with the parents who got sent to Azkaban? I know this sounds terrible and selfish, but I don't care what happens to my parents. I only care what happens to me..." 

I stepped away from Hermione and we continued walking. 

"Last night when we were with Hagrid, we found Barty Crouch dead in the Forbidden Forest..." Hermione said. "Do you think it was...?" 

I sighed. "I don't know, Hermione. I'm just as clueless as you are..." 

_

At lunch that day, I sat with Pansy, Blaise, and Draco as per usual. We talked about the recent death on campus and who we think did it. 

"I think Igor Karkaroff did it," Pansy said. "He was a death eater." 

"So was Professor Snape. I suppose you think he could have done it?" Blaise said sarcastically. 

Pansy scoffed. "Well who do you think did it, then?" 

"It was probably Mad-Eye. He is... you know... mad."

Pansy rolled her eyes at Blaise and looked over at me. "What do you think, Cass?" 

"I haven't the slightest idea..." I eyed Draco, who kept his head low, not taking part in the conversation. I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. He was the only person at the table who knew about the letter. 

"What about you, Draco? What are you thinking?" I asked, hoping to catch him off guard. 

But he just shrugged and said "I don't know". 

We didn't talk about it for the rest of lunch, but I was determined to bring it up again at some point. 

At the end of the day during Transfiguration, the tension between Draco and I was terrible. We were working on a spell to turn a dinner plate into a mushroom. Draco and I sat at our table, flicking our wands at our plates in complete silence. Usually we were talking, even if it was just bickering or making fun of each other. 

As I was mindlessly trying to transfigure my plate, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Draco's turn into a mushroom. Professor McGonagall also saw and she walked over to our table to congratulate Draco, as he was the first student in class to successfully do the spell. 

"Well done, Mr. Malfoy. Keep practicing and you'll be able to do it instantaneously," McGonagall said before walking away to help another student. 

"How did you do that?!" I said. 

Draco grinned and scooted closer to me. "You've got the spell right, but you're holding your wand too loosely. You need to be more precise." Draco wrapped his hand around mine, which was gripping my wand, and demonstrated how to properly conduct the spell and motion. And suddenly, a mushroom sat in front of me instead of a dinner plate. 

"Good, Ms. Grey. Keep practicing," McGonagall said. I smiled and admired the mushroom. While I was caught up in the product of the spell, I didn't notice Draco's hand still wrapped around mine. We looked at each other before Draco drew his hand away and I frantically sat my wand down on the table. 

Since the awkward silence we'd endured the whole class was now broken, I decided to bring up what was eating at me all day. 

"Draco..." I said, making him whip his head towards me. He probably thought I was going to bring up the hand thing. "I know what you were thinking at lunch. We're both on the same page, just so you know." 

"I highly doubt Voldemort is on the campus as we speak," Draco said, keeping his voice low. "If he was, Dumbledore would know by now." 

"Then I just don't understand why my mother said he'd be returning soon. It's been months since she sent me that letter, and we haven't seen or heard of him yet." 

"First of all, your mother never specifically said it was Voldemort. You came to that conclusion on your own-" 

"Oh and you're going to disagree with me?" I said, cutting him off. "You're going to say your father hasn't mentioned anything to you? That I don't believe." 

Draco looked around the room. "Keep your voice down," he said. "I'm not going to act like I disagree with you, because I don't. I just don't think we should be worrying about it if we're not one-hundred percent sure." 

"So you just want to ignore it until it goes away? Things don't work that way- you can't ignore something just because you're scared of it."

Draco and I looked at each other in silence for a few seconds, concluding our conversation. We got back to work and stayed silent until the final bell rang. We both knew something was about to happen, but we didn't know when. Now it was just a waiting game.

_

In mine and Pansy’s dorm, Pansy was sat on her bed writing in a notebook. I assumed it was her diary, so I wasn’t going to pry for answers. I thought I was basically her diary- she tells me everything! I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of stuff she wrote in there that I didn’t know about. But the last thing either of us probably wanted was our friendship to be ruined by me being nosy. 

I tried to do some homework, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking about Voldemort and Barty Crouch and the letters. Why can’t I just enjoy my first year at Hogwarts? Why do my parents have to be death-eaters? Why can’t my life be normal in the slightest? To be fair, if it was, it wouldn’t make for a very exciting life would it?


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: MENTION OF EATING DISORDERS

Outside, the plants were beginning to grow back and the wild animals slowly began appearing around the castle again. Spring was on its way. March is one of my favorite months because everything is new and fresh and recovering from the harshness of winter. It's a beautiful thing, regeneration is. 

In Potions, we had a test coming up so I decided to go to the library and check out a book or two. Studying really wasn't my forte, but I couldn't let my grades slip with the end of term coming up. I found a nice spot in the corner of the library and began to make a study guide the best I knew how. 

Who knew studying took so long? I was there for a couple hours, going over so much information. Who could possibly retain this much information at once? I bet Hermione has great study techniques. Maybe she'd share them with me if I asked. 

As I was copying down the ingredients to a black fire potion, a light blue figure appeared in front of me. I looked up expecting to see Fleur, but it was a different girl in a Beauxbatons uniform. 

"Cassiopeia, right?" she asked me. 

"Can I help you?" I said, having no clue who this girl is. 

"I'm Margaret. Margaret Monet." 

Did she expect me to know her by her name? I went through all my memories of my years at Beauxbatons and I had to recollection of seeing this girl there. But the more I looked at her, the more familiar her features became. That's it! She was Draco's date to the ball. The girl that had a particular interest in Adrian.

"Ah... I recognize you now..." 

Margaret looked at me with eyes of sympathy and took a seat next to me. I don't remember saying that was something she could do, but she did it anyway. 

"Look, I didn't know you and Adrian went to the ball together. If I did, I wouldn't have talked to him that night."

"Why should I believe you?" 

"I wouldn't blame you if you didn't, but I was told Adrian hadn't gone with anyone. You see, Malfoy only asked me to the ball because neither of us had dates. I tried getting to know him, but he's just terrible. We both agreed we didn't like each other, but we'd go to the ball together anyway. I asked Malfoy if Adrian was there with anyone, since he knew I fancied him, and he told me Adrian was there alone. I'm really sorry, Cassiopeia. If it makes you feel any better, Adrian and I don't talk to each other. He told me how much he liked you and we haven't spoke since."

As Margaret finished her tangent, I sat there completely in shock. She totally lost me after "he told me Adrian was there alone". Anything after that was just static going in my ears. 

I spoke with Margaret a little more, having to make her repeat the last part of what she said since I didn't hear. She kept apologizing and telling me how much Adrian liked me. I really felt like an asshole. I refused to listen to anything Adrian tried to say to me after the ball. I just thought he was some two-timing pig. It just turns out Malfoy played me. Why, though?

_

After talking to Margaret I tried to finish studying, but I couldn't focus on anything. I was just mad and hungry so I made my way to the Great Hall for dinner. I was expecting to find Pansy, Blaise, and Draco in our usual spot, but when I got there I only saw Pansy and Blaise. I was hoping for Draco to be there so I could cuss him out in front of everyone. 

"Where's Draco?" I huffed, taking a seat next to Pansy. 

"Dunno, why?" Pansy said. 

"Nevermind, it doesn't matter," I answered her, loading up my plate with food. If I couldn't extinguish my anger, I could at least extinguish the gurgling in the pit of my stomach. 

"What's got her wand in a knot?" Blaise asked Pansy, trying to be secretive. It didn't work. I shot Blaise a glare and he silently went back to eating. 

I didn't want to bring up what Margaret told me until Pansy and I got to our dorm, so during dinner I just quietly ate and watched Pansy and Blaise talk. The more I watched Pansy, the more I started to pick up on. She wasn't eating her food. 

It looked like she was eating, it really did. She would scrape her fork against her plate, making it look like she was picking at her food. Every time she would bring her fork up to her mouth she would say something to Blaise, making him focus on the conversation rather than her eating. When Blaise would answer her, she'd put her fork down and start cutting up her food and scraping her fork across her plate again. 

She'd say "isn't the food great tonight?" and offer some to Blaise, who took it. By the end of dinner Pansy's plate looked so messy as if she'd devoured all her food, but in reality she hadn't taken one bite. 

How could I have missed this?

_

On our way to our dorm, I kept thinking about what to say to Pansy. Or if I should say anything at all. I didn't want to make her uncomfortable, but I was worried. She really thought out how to get away with not eating. I decided to keep my mouth shut, but keep an eye on her. 

"How come you were so quiet at dinner?" Pansy asked me while we got ready for bed. 

"I spoke to the girl Draco took to the ball today. Well she kind of forced her way to the seat next to me and spilled everything." 

"What do you mean?" 

"Apparently she and Draco didn't get on, but she fancied Adrian. Adrian wasn't interested..." 

"Well that's good, isn't it? That means Adrian isn't a man-whore." 

"Yeah, but... She told me she asked Draco if Adrian was at the ball with anyone. And he said 'no'... I just- I just can't believe him. He knew Adrian and I were together! He even pushed Adrian off his damn broomstick just for looking at me during a quidditch match! That son of a bitch! And to think, we were becoming friends! Why did he do this?" 

Pansy raised her eyebrows after I got done with my rant. She came and sat on my bed and patted the spot next to her. I sat down and she placed her hand on my cheek. She smiled at me sympathetically and sighed. 

"Cass... I'm your person, so I'm going to say this with the best intentions in mind: how stupid can you be?" 

Did she just call me stupid? During my crisis, did she call me stupid? 

"Wha... Why am I stupid..?" 

Pansy burst into laughter. That just made me even more confused. 

"You seriously don't get it?! Malfoy was jealous of Adrian, so he set the Beauxbatons girl up with him!" 

"I'm not following..." 

"Okay... Look, Malfoy's hated Adrian ever since year one so I'm sure you and him being a thing just set him off even more. Do you know how many guys at Hogwarts despised Adrian after word got out you and him were together? You're the cool new girl this year, Cass. Everyone wanted to take you to the ball, but they were too scared to ask." 

"Scared of what?" 

"I don't know, Adrian? Your death-eater parents? You?" 

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be offended at that, but I kind of was. 

"I guess I was the only person that picked up on the tension between you and Malfoy since-" 

"Tension?! What kind of tension?" I interrupted. 

"The sexual tension of course! You two are the equivalent of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy! You really haven't noticed?" 

Honestly I hadn't. Not in a while at least...

"Pansy. I'm going to tell you something that you cannot repeat to anyone else, not even Blaise. And I don't ever want you to bring it up again after I say it. Do you understand?" 

Pansy slowly nodded her head. 

"On the first day of school, at the party, you remember how I came back from the bathroom with love bites on my neck?" 

Pansy slowly nodded her head again, her eyes wide. 

"It was Draco..." 

Pansy was silent for a while, eyes still wide, her mouth in a thin line. She just stared at me until she couldn't contain herself any more and started jumping up and down laughing and yelling "I knew it! I knew it!" 

"You can't tell anyone!"

"I won't, I promise! But you have to tell me more! How far did you two get?" 

"Oh my god, I am not talking about this anymore." 

Pansy sighed and sat back down next to me. "Fine. Well I've got to say, you two did a pretty good job hiding it. Not from me, obviously. So what, you guys just agreed to never talk about it?" 

"I mean... pretty much. I told him it wasn't how I wanted to start off my first year here and that I didn't want to be associated with him. Now I really stand by that." 

"I've known Malfoy since we were eleven and all I can say is he's not all he makes himself out to be. He's scared of a lot of things, and when he gets scared he doesn't know what to do. He feels the need to prove himself, but in doing that he just earns himself a bad reputation. You have to walk on broken glass around him, Cass. He doesn't get enough second chances..." 

Pansy made her way to her own bed and got under the covers. "But Blaise is the person who knows him best. They've known each other even before our first year. They're really close, those two. I'm not sure what it is that makes them that close, but it think it's each other they trust the most. Anyway, goodnight." Pansy turned her bedside lamp off and rested her head onto her pillow. 

Was she telling me to give him a second chance? A second chance after deceiving me, Adrian, and Margaret? Now that I was thinking about it, he told me a lot about himself that night we hung out in his dorm. Why did he trust me with that kind of information? All I knew is that I'd first have to make amends with Adrian before Draco.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: MENTION OF EATING DISORDERS

Why is it that I have normal teenage girl problems like winning over a boy and my best friend's eating disorder, but I also have problems like wondering when the Dark Lord will come back and how heavily my parents are involved. At least I know how to handle the first two. 

Adrian always hung out in his usual spot in the common room everyday after class, so I knew I could find him there. It was hard biting my tongue around Draco at lunch and during classes, but I wanted to go off on him in private. 

After Transfiguration I left straight for the common room. While speeding down the hallway I heard rapid footsteps behind me and turned around to see Draco trying to catch up to me. 

"Wait, Cass," he said catching his breath. "Where are you going?" 

"Uh, my dorm room. I'm feeling pretty tired so I might just go fall asleep."

I was lying obviously, but I didn't want him to see me with Adrian. I don't know why I cared so much about what he thought, but a part of me felt bad about lying to him. 

Draco nodded his head. "Well I'll see you later, then..." he said before giving me a slight nod and walking in the opposite direction. 

I had to ignore how wrong I was feeling so I could get this done with and have a normal life for once. A normal life being a love interest and a friend group everyone is jealous of. You know, like everything the main character of a good muggle movie has. 

When it got the common room, low and behold, Adrian was sat studying in his usual spot. But he was there with Terrence and Theo. I walked over to the table they were at and cleared my throat loudly, making sure they heard me. 

"Oh, hey Cass," Theo said looking at me suspiciously. 

"What's up?" Terrence asked, also looking at me quite suspiciously. 

"Um.. Snape is looking for you two," I said off the top of my head.

"What for?" Theo asked. 

"Something about a Potions assignment." I leaned towards them and whispered, "It didn't sound like good news..." 

Theo and Terrence looked at each other and rushed out of the common room to Snape's office. I watched them leave, feeling kind of bad, but mostly proud of the fact that I actually got them to leave. I turned towards Adrian, who had his face down in his book. I reluctantly sat down across from him and his gaze shot up towards me. 

"Hi..." I said. 

"Hey..." he said, almost like a question. 

I didn't know what to say. I wanted to say everything I was thinking, but I knew I shouldn't. And if I did he'd probably think I was weird and obsessed, which I'm not. But I just wanted him to know I wasn't a total bitch. 

"Just so you know, I'm not a total bitch." 

Adrian looked at me, confused. "Wha-" he began before I cut him off. 

"Before you say anything, just know Margaret Monet explained everything to me and I want to apologize for not listening to you when you tried to talk to me. I just didn't know the story..." 

A grin slowly formed in the corner of Adrian's mouth, throwing me off guard. 

"You're quite special, Cass," he said. "You really thought I'd let go of you that easily?"

"I guess it was my fault for thinking you were a two-timing pig," I said chuckling. 

Adrian shook his head. "Not at all. I get how from your perspective it looked pretty bad. When you saw the two of us talking, I just assumed she was drunk so I didn't want to be a dick or anything." 

"You're way too good of a person, Adrian. I don't deserve you, but if it's okay, could we try again?" 

We sat in silence for a bit, Adrian still grinning and me on the edge of my seat waiting for a reply. I was convinced he was going to say 'no', because why wouldn't he? I'd been such a complete jerk. 

"I'd love that." 

Oh. That was easy.

I could feel my face getting hot as I broke out into a huge dopey smile. I just smiled at him, unable to form any words. But in the corner of my eye, I caught someone staring. I knew who it was from the blur of white at the top of their head, so I didn't look in their direction. The person walked off, I knew where, so I stood from my seat and smiled at Adrian one last time. 

"I'm glad we talked. I'll see you around?" 

"Definitely." 

Adrian gave me a friendly nod and I followed the person who I just saw. He was walking to his dorm and shut the door before I could catch up to him. 

"Draco!" I said knocking on his door. 

No answer. 

I kept knocking. 

"Draco, I need to speak with you!" 

Still no answer. 

I took out my wand and waved it in front of the lock on Draco's door. "Alohomora," I whispered, unlocking the door. 

"I'm coming in!" I said before opening the door to Draco's dorm. 

He was stood in the middle of his room, looking terrified. 

"Did you just unlock my door and barge into my room?!" he asked. 

"W-well I let you know I was coming in, didn't I?" I said, putting my wand away. 

"You bloody psychopath... What do you want?" 

"Why did you do what you did?"

"...I don't know what you're talking about..."

Draco crossed his arms and looked at me sternly. 

"Yes you do. Because you just saw me talking to Adrian after you thought you'd gotten rid of him for good. What you did was really low, Draco. Why did you do it?" 

He didn't answer me. He just stared at his shoes with his arms still crossed. 

"Pansy told me you've hated Adrian ever since year one," I continued. "There must be a reason... She also said the only person here you really trust is Blaise. Why is that?" 

Draco quickly looked up at me. He paced around the room for a little bit before sitting on the edge of his bed and leaning his elbows on his knees. 

"There are reasons for both..." he began. "But I can't tell you. I wish I could... As for Blaise, it wouldn't be fair for me to tell you without him knowing. I wouldn't do that to him. But as for Adrian, I physically cannot bring myself to tell you, Cass. I won't stand here and dictate what you do just because of my past experiences with him. But if I ever feel the need to, I will force it out of myself if it means you get to know the truth..." 

Why was he being so cryptic? The truth? If it's so important for me to know the truth, then why doesn't he just tell me right now? I wanted to pry, but I couldn't. He looked so visibly distressed, I couldn't add any more fuel to the fire. 

"You don't get enough second chances, Draco. Don't fuck this one up..." 

Draco stood up, but before he could do or say anything else, I left for my own dorm room. 

_

When I got to my dorm, Pansy was writing in her diary again. It seemed like she spent most of her private time writing in that thing. I really wanted to know what was in it, but as they say, “curiosity killed the cat”. 

“You wanna go grab some dinner?” I asked Pansy, making her finally look up from her notebook. 

“Oh, no thanks,” she said. “I have some work I need to do.” 

“You’re telling me you’d rather do homework than get some food? You do anything if it means you don’t have to do homework.” 

“Cass, really, I need to get some homework done. Plus, I’m not that hungry.” 

I was reluctant to leave, but I knew the best thing for me to do was to respect her wishes. If she didn’t want dinner, she didn’t have to get dinner. 

“Alright,” I said, leaving our dorm for the Great Hall. 

At the Slytherin table sat Blaise and Theo in our usual spot we ate at. I sat down on the other side of them and loaded my plate. 

“Hey Cass,” Blaise said. I greeted him and Theo and started eating. I couldn’t wrap my head around how Pansy didn’t want the food- it’s honestly the best food I’ve ever had. I guess it’s just a mental thing I can’t understand if I’m not in her head. I can try to sympathize and understand, but I’ll never really get it. All I can do is be there for her. 

“You know...” Theo began. “When Terrence and I went to Snape’s office, he said he had clue why we would think he asked for us.” 

“...Really?” I said, mouth full. 

“Mhm. He was proper upset that we interrupted him for no reason. But I take it you just wanted some alone time with Adrian, huh Cass?” 

Blaise looked at me. “You two are a thing again? I thought he cheated on you at the ball.” 

“Well apparently it was all just a big misunderstanding. And we weren’t even exclusive, so how could he have cheated on me?” 

Blaise slightly rolled his eyes and looked at the entrance doors of the Great Hall. Theo and I looked too, seeing Draco staring at us. Blaise waved him over, but he sat down with Crabbe and Goyle instead. I couldn’t even remember the last time he spoke to them. 

“What’s his problem?” Theo asked. 

Blaise and I exchanged glances. I focused on my plate, knowing I was the reason for him not sitting with us. Blaise noticed and glared at me. 

“Yeah what is his problem, Cass?” 

I looked up at Blaise, defensive. 

“I don’t fucking know,” I said. “He’s a little drama queen, that’s his problem...”


	17. Chapter 17

I was finally starting to feel somewhat normal again. I hadn't heard from my parents since December and it was now May, so the return of Voldemort was no longer the first thing on my mind. Now my grades were up, mostly thanks to study sessions with Hermione. Adrian and I were spending tons of time together. It felt quite nostalgic being with him, I'm not sure how to explain it. Sometimes Fleur would invite me to what she called 'Triwizard Meetings', which were just the Triwizard champions and some of their friends hanging out in various locations around the castle. Sometimes it would be in the courtyard, or the Astronomy Tower, or we'd sneak out to the quidditch pitch. It was fun getting to know other students outside of Slytherin that weren't Hermione and Fleur. Viktor would bring Hermione, so she was always there, but Cedric and Cho would go as well as Harry and Ron. Usually we would talk and play games and discuss the competition. It was just something to take the stress off the competitors. 

Harry and Ron's dynamic I was already familiar with, but Viktor and Hermione's was unbearably awkward. They barely ever spoke to each other and when they did, it was as if they hadn't been hanging out together for months. Cedric and Cho, however, were perfect for each other. They were probably the nicest pair of people I've ever met. And they truly seemed to be in love. Not like a regular teenage relationship, like I could actually see them getting married one day. 

Blaise and Pansy give me shit sometimes about going to the meetings because they don't particularly like anyone involved. They aren't as judgmental as other Slytherins when it comes to anyone else who wasn't in Slytherin, but I just think they've never traveled outside of their bubble. 

Speaking of bubbles, Draco eventually went back to his with Crabbe and Goyle. He still hangs out with Blaise, obviously, but when Pansy or I ask Blaise why Draco went back to Crabbe and Goyle he doesn't tell us why. In the back of my mind, I can't help thinking it's all because of me. Did I put him in an uncomfortable situation? How could I? I told him I was giving him a second chance. 

Today is Saturday, so we didn't have any classes. Adrian asked if we could hang out in my dorm, so I made sure Pansy knew to stay out until he was gone. She made a bit of a fuss at first, but she told me she was going to go find Blaise and bother him until Adrian left. 

I spent a few minutes tidying up before Adrian got there. I sprayed some perfume around the room and myself, because why not? I wondered whether I should make my bed or not. Would that look too neat? Before I could make a decision, I heard a knock on my door. I waited a couple seconds before opening the door. I didn't want to seem like I was waiting for him or anything. When I opened my door, Adrian stood in front of me with his hand in his pockets. He smiled, making me smile back without even realizing. 

"Hey! Uh, come on in," I said, stepping out of his way. He nodded and stepped into my dorm. I closed the door behind him and stood there with my hands together. Adrian looked around the room, admiring the walls and personal items scattered about. 

"It's been a while since I've been in here," he said, barely audible. Almost like he didn't realize he said it out loud. 

"You've been in here before?" I asked, wondering if he and Pansy ever had a thing I didn't know about.

"Oh yeah," he said, whipping his head around towards me. "I used to have a friend that shared this dorm with Pansy. She changed schools, though." 

"When?" I asked, just trying to keep the conversation going. 

"Her first year..."

"Oh. Guess Hogwarts just wasn't for her, then."

Adrian forced a chuckle and looked away from me. 

"So what do you want to do?" Why was he acting weird? Did he have a crush on this girl or something? 

"Whatever you want." 

I sat down on my bed and motioned for him to sit down as well. I laid on my back, staring at the ceiling above me. Soon I felt the presence of Adrian laying next to me, doing the same. 

"...What's your story?" I asked. 

"My story? My story isn't all that interesting. I'm my parents' only child, so that calls for a boring childhood. My family is well-off, though. So I guess I can't really complain, can I? What about you? What's your story?"

"Ooh, you don't wanna hear my story," I said. 

"Why is that?"

"Because there is an essential banality to my story. My life is a cliché. My parents become death-eaters and get married right out of school. The Potters get killed, so Voldemort's followers scatter along with him. My parents decide to flee to France, so I attend Beauxbatons. When I was eleven, my parents tried hiding my Hogwarts letter from me. I'd heard about Hogwarts and knew all about it, but my parents didn't want me to go. That was, until last summer. My father contacted Professor Dumbledore to see if the offer still stood- if I could still go to school here. Dumbledore said, no matter what, there will always be a place for me at Hogwarts..." 

I shifted my eyes away from the ceiling to Adrian, who was propped up on his elbow, looking at me. He grinned. 

"Your story is not banal," he said. "Your story is what makes you you. And, come on, you're the first person I've met who speaks French." 

"What about Margaret Monet?"

"I met you before I met her, didn't I? Plus, you're way cooler." 

I began to grin with Adrian, eventually leading to us both laughing for no good reason. But those are the best kind of laughs aren't they? The ones that happen in times of pure joy with another person.

As our laughter died down, we only gazed into each other's eyes. 

"Embrasse-moi..." I purred, knowing Adrian wouldn't understand. 

"What's that mean?" He asked, like I knew he would. But I didn't want to tell him. 

I brought my left hand up to Adrian's face and stroked his cheek as I leaned in to kiss him. Our lips met and melted together, following the other's every motion. Adrian slowly started to move on top of me. Now both my hands stroked his soft cheeks and hair. His mouth began to make its way down to my neck. I felt my face become hot as he gently kissed the sweet spots on my neck, inducing a feeling of euphoria throughout my body. His mouth met with mine again and I felt a warm hand slide up my shirt. His fingers played with the wiring of my bra before slightly tugging at the bottom of my shirt, signaling to me what he wanted. I sat up and lifted my arms, letting Adrian pull my shirt off and toss it to the foot of the bed. I did the same, pulling his shirt up over his head and tossing it to where my shirt laid. Adrian's hair was a bit messy now, as was mine I'm sure. I let my hands wander across his contoured stomach and back. I laid back down as Adrian planted soft kisses on me starting from my lips and moving on down to my neck, eventually kissing my chest right between my breasts. 

As he kissed my chest, I laid there wondering how far this was going to go. Usually we just take part in sloppy make out sessions that ended after a few minutes, but this seems like something serious. Something I wasn't sure if I was ready for yet. I've never done anything like that before, but I know other people my age have. With that knowledge, I convinced myself I was ready. So, I went along with what was happening. 

I realized Adrian's kisses had made their way down to my stomach, making me breathe harder and faster. My heart was beating so hard, the sound of it filled my ears. I hoped Adrian couldn't hear it like I could. His lips reached right below my belly button, the waistband of my pants stopping him from going any farther. He looked up at me, his eyes asking for permission. My eyes said 'yes' and he slowly unbuttoned my pants. I stared at my ceiling, letting the back of my head hit the bed. Adrian successfully unbuttoned my pants and lowered them, exposing my intimate area covered by the thin layer of my panties. Adrian kissed my pelvis and inner thighs as his hands reached up to fondle my breasts. I bit my lip trying not to make any noise, but I could feel the area between my legs getting hotter and hotter as Adrian got closer and closer. At this point I couldn't help but pant as Adrian's fingers traced the hem of my underwear. I panted harder, small moans escaping my mouth with ever breath, as Adrian slowly tugged at the top of my underwear. 

My heartbeat quickened, my hands started to shake, the muscles in my thighs tensed. I felt like I was on the verge of bursting into a million pieces due to the complete satisfaction surging through my body.

Then the door swung open. 

Horrified, I whipped my head towards the entrance to see who it was. 

My heart fell into my stomach as I stared into the wide blue eyes of the all too familiar person standing there. 

Standing there stunned. 

Standing there, feet glued to the floor. 

Draco Malfoy, standing there, staring at me in my most vulnerable moment.


End file.
